Portland Winterhawks’ Nicolas Petan hits the form of his life after changing the blade of his stick
Nicolas Petan, a professional ice hockey player from Canada, who plays in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for Portland Winterhawks, has been in phenomenal form this season after changing the shape of his blade of the hockey stick.
The forward, who plays in the position of centre, has scored much more goals and assists, than he had scored at the same time last season. In fact, with more than half of the season still remaining, he has already gone way over the total point tally that
he had at the end of last season.
The 17-year-old player had managed just 14 goals and 21 assists for the total of 35 points in 61 games last season but he has already scored 16 goals and 28 assists for a total of 44 points in 25 games of this season.
The Vernon, British Columbia native believes that the change of stick shape has not only helped him physically but it also had an effect on his mental condition. It gave him psychological advantage when he changed it because he felt like he would do better
with the new one. It gave him a lot of confidence to do well and he utilised it with giving the performance. While talking to NHL.com, Petan said,
"It helps me physically with playing, but it helps you mentally. You think you're going to do better with a different curve, you practice and work with it, you're really used to it. You go out there and you have success with it and you gain confidence with
it."
NHL Central Scouting has ranked Petan 15th in the ranking of top 25 WHL players for 2013 NHL Draft. NHL Central Scouting’s B.J. Macdonald had many good words to say about the player as he praised his improvement and thinks that playing with confidence
is helping Petan a lot. According to him this is the reason that he is getting better of defensemen, as he said,
"Petan has really improved even from the start of the year. The difference from last year is that he is playing with much more confidence and has gained a step, which allows him to drive to net. He has improved his quickness”.
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