Cal Petersen held onto a simple childhood dream: He wanted to play for the Waterloo Black Hawks.
He grew up in eastern Iowa, and he gravitated toward hockey – a sport often trumped by more popular sports in the state, like baseball, basketball, football and wrestling – because of his family’s history.
And while most young players dreamed of making it to the National Hockey League, Petersen set his sights on the local USHL – the top junior hockey league in the United States – team.
“It was a complete dream for me to play for the Black Hawks,” Petersen said to the Des Moines Register on Dec. 5. “Like, if I could even just be a backup for them or just play a game – anything like that – would have been great.”
For Petersen, that dream came true.
But the 31-year-old goalie – now in the starting rotation with the Iowa Wild – went much further in hockey than he ever could’ve imagined.
Petersen’s family connection to hockey led him to the sport
Petersen grew up in a hockey household, with his grandfather getting involved with the Waterloo junior hockey team and his father, Eric, playing goalie for Division III Bethel College (Minnesota).
He strapped on the skates early, but Eric was hesitant about his son becoming a goalie. Eric understood the mental challenges of being a goalie: trying to leave the game at the rink, taking wins and losses personally.
The only problem: Petersen instantly fell in love with the position after his mother, Mary, convinced Eric to let Cal try it out.
He worked his way through the youth ranks, going on the road – to Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin – to play. And while most junior hockey players leave home to chase their dreams, Petersen returned to Waterloo.
“We always thought it was funny, most kids play all their youth years at home and then move away,” Petersen explained. “I played all my youth years away from home and then moved back.”
Even with the opportunity to play in the USHL, Petersen still didn’t see his path leading to the NHL. He never thought he was as good as some of the other athletes he played with, and he felt like he was playing catch-up.
So, he spent two full seasons playing for his hometown junior hockey team.
Petersen checked that childhood dream off the list.
But his hockey career was far from over.
All roads – with a few stops along the way – led to the Iowa Wild
“I was like, if I could play for Waterloo, that would be great,” Petersen said. “And then it got to be like, if I could maybe go to college or get a scholarship, that would be great. I didn’t really have this grand plan.
“I had dreams of playing in the NHL, but it wasn’t like I have to do this or I’m going to be a failure. It was just like, if I keep working and getting a little bit better, maybe I can get to the next level.”
In the middle of his tenure with Waterloo, Petersen was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth round – No. 129 overall – of the 2013 NHL Draft.
He played one more season of junior hockey after being drafted, and then he took his talents to Notre Dame.
There – six hours away from home but still close enough for his family to attend almost every home game – head coach Jeff Jackson made Petersen earn his way into a starting role.
He signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings after college, and Petersen spent the next six seasons working his way up from the Ontario Reign – the Kings’ minor league affiliate – to a full-time spot in the big leagues, making his NHL debut in 2018.
In 2023, Petersen’s journey then took him to Pennsylvania, where he joined the Philadelphia Flyers organization for two seasons.
And then, after leaving Philly as a free agent earlier this year, he found the perfect landing spot.
“This summer, I was talking with my agent about different opportunities,” Petersen said. “I knew that I’d be trying to fill that third role, being able to go to the NHL if needed or being down in the AHL. And Minnesota looked like they were in that situation.”
The Iowa native – who spends his summers close to home, in the North Star State – saw a chance to return to his roots.
And on the first morning of free agency, the Wild called Petersen.
He couldn’t wait to share the news with his family – Eric, Mary and little sister, Annie – except no one answered his calls.
“I think my dad was traveling, my mom was doing something, and I knew my sister was in town, but I couldn’t really get a hold of anybody,” Petersen laughed.
Despite not answering those initial calls, his family is thrilled to have Petersen playing close to home.
Unlike Los Angeles and Philadelphia – where seeing their son play required a plane ride – the Casey’s Center is just a two-hour drive from Waterloo, down Highway 20 and Interstate 35.
His parents not only come to most of the Iowa Wild’s home games, but it’s also a relatively easy trip for dinner with their son or to watch Petersen’s dog when he’s on the road. It’s something that Peterson doesn’t take for granted.
“I was in Los Angeles for eight years,” Petersen shared. “So, that was hard (on them) going out to the West Coast, and then the East Coast, too. So, I think just for them, knowing that I’m so close, it’s been really nice.”
Petersen launches initiative to give back to Iowa youth hockey
Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Tuukka Rask.
Those players – particularly the first two, Brodeur and Roy – are considered the best goalies, ever, in the NHL. Petersen looked up to those athletes as a child, but they all share one thing in common outside of their skills between the pipes.
None of those players are from the United States.
Growing up in Iowa, Petersen understood that hockey wasn’t the most popular sport. Basketball and wrestling are king during the winter months, despite some of the country’s top junior hockey teams being located in the Hawkeye State.
The USHL is a 16-team league, and five of those teams call Iowa home: the Cedar Rapids Roughriders, Des Moines Buccaneers, Dubuque Fighting Saints, Sioux City Musketeers and Waterloo.
But there is still a lot of space to grow the game.
Petersen thinks so, too.
“I have a lot of pride for Iowa, and I wanted to show kids that there is a path to the highest levels (of hockey),” he said.
On Dec. 4, Petersen – in partnership with the Iowa Wild and Scheels – launched his “Goalies Give Back” initiative, a community program raising funds to provide goalie equipment and reduce the cost of ice time for local youth hockey players.
He plans to donate one dollar per save – with a matching contribution from Scheels – from this season to the Des Moines Youth Hockey Association. Petersen will also host an equipment drive at MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex in West Des Moines from Dec. 13-19, and he plans to volunteer at the youth association’s goalie clinic.
Petersen had access to goalie equipment growing up, but he understands how expensive hockey equipment is, and it costs even more for those athletes who want to be in goal.
But if he can do something that alleviates the financial burden for some families, that could make ice hockey – the sport that Petersen turned into a career – more accessible.
And hopefully, that means more kids will want to play the game.
He looked up to Brodeur, Roy and Rask – among other goalies – as a kid.
Petersen is proof, though, that hockey players from Iowa can make it to the highest level of the sport. He could be to other Iowans what those three legendary goalies were to him: an inspiration.
“You can make your own opportunity,” Petersen said. “That’s the thing I’m most proud of; I worked really hard to make the most of the opportunities that I got. I don’t think your environment has to determine where you go in your life.
“And maybe if some kids can try goalie and fall in love with it, those kids around here can start getting to that level.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Wild goalie Cal Petersen gives back to youth hockey in home state
Reporting by Alyssa Hertel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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