Catching up with Axemen goaltender Brayden Peters
Acadia netminder continues to rehab injured knee
On November 4th of this past season, 1st year Axemen goaltender Brayden Peters, was off to an impressive start to the season, playing in his 5th regular season game, after going 2 and 2 in his first 4 games of the season, when one play changed his trajectory for the year. The Axemen were hosting the Dalhousie Tigers in Wolfville, when midway through the 2nd period, Peters made a highlight reel save, but tore his ACL and fractured his tibilar plateau in his left knee on the play.
Peters, a Business Administration major, described the moment saying, “It was a bit of a scramble in front of the net when the puck went to an open player back door. I slid to my left and extended my leg straight to try to get over in time, but I caught the heel of my skate on the post and didn’t slip off either in front of the post or into the net like it normally does. My body continued overtop of my knee and I felt a big pop behind my kneecap and had a wave of pain rush into my knee. It was just an unlucky injury, I probably did the same play 10+ times in practice, but this time my leg didn’t slip off the post and led to the injury.”
Prior to attending Acadia, Brayden had an impressive junior career in the WHL with the Calgary Hitmen going 64-58-9 in 138 regular season games over 5 years and took part in the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche prospect camp last September.
Due to the seriousness of the injury, surgery was necessary on February 8th in Yarmouth. He said, “The surgery went really good. I had my mom fly out from Alberta to help for the first week of recovery. So far, the ACL graft has been feeling really good and progressing on schedule. Now it’s a bit of a waiting game until the graft is able to fuse properly. The main thing for me now is to make sure I stay focused on my rehab timeline and make sure I don’t push it too far and cause any setbacks.”
It is a long road to recovery for the Axemen netminder, saying, “the first three months of rehab were mainly focused on retraining my left leg to get all my range of motion and balance back. Over the summer it will mainly be focused on jogging and running again and getting used to putting force into my knee again. So hopefully, by the time we come back together as a team I will be able to get on the ice and skate around, at that time we’ll be able to judge more accurately when I can get back in the net and join team practices. But my return date is still up in the air. Generally, it will be between 10-12 months of recovery post-surgery.”
Acadia Axemen Head Coach Darren Burns has nothing but praise for his netminder and his determination to return to action, saying “You hate to see any kid go through an injury and the process of getting back to playing like Petey has had to do. First things first, he is an incredible human and his attitude through all this has been outstanding. He is an excellent role model of team first and perseverance.
Our team will benefit from having first year players come in and see his dedication to the game. He’s an outstanding goalie who will no doubt play a huge role in the success of our program. His passion for making this team better through recruiting other players here and his day-to-day approach creates positive energy in our building.”
Despite the injury, the Taber, Alberta native has been happy with his time in the Valley, saying, “My experience here in Wolfville has been amazing. Everyone in the community and at the school have been incredibly welcoming and really made my adjustment moving out here from Alberta as easy as possible. It’s been a year of new and unexpected challenges, but I’m happy I’ve been able to experience it and grow from it out here.”
Peters concluded saying, “I just want to say thank you to the Axemen fans for all your support for both myself and for the team. It was awesome getting to talk to a bunch of you in the stands after I got injured and the support from everyone was amazing. I’m excited to see all of you at the rink again next year and excited to see what we can accomplish as a team.”
Story by Chris Richards