March 18, 2011
Petersons make mark at HC
Hudson Catholic's Chris and Amanda Peterson (photo credit: Beth McMonagle).
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
Like most brothers and sisters, fighting is an everyday occurrence for Chris and Amanda Peterson. Unlike most siblings, Chris and Amanda sometimes take these arguments to the ice.
“They sometimes stop becoming teammates and start becoming brothers and sisters on the bench,” Hudson Catholic coach Frank McGady said with a laugh. “And I have to step in-between them and say knock it off with the fighting. It is funny since you have to remember that they are teammates, but they are brother and sister.”
This marked the first time that Chris (a senior forward) and Amanda (a freshman defenseman) had ever been teammates on the ice. During one game, the two were partners on defense for the Hawks. The pairing worked out well, even with the occasional brother-sister disagreement.
“One game we had to be defensive pairs because one of the regular defensemen got sick,” Chris said. “And she just said ‘do I really have to play with him?’”
“We actually played pretty well together,” Amanda said. “We somehow managed to find each other on the ice and managed to get the passes to each other. It actually works out pretty well even though we yell at each other, it somehow works.”
Chris’ “tough love” towards Amanda on the ice and in street hockey helped prepare her for some of the challenges that come with the high school game.
Despite the occasional argument, they do look out for each other on the ice, as evidenced by an incident during a game against Scotch Plains-Fanwood. A player, more than a foot taller had checked the 5-foot-2 Amanda from behind. The “big brother” side of Chris came out as he responded with a big hit on the opposing player.
“I just remember the kid hitting me,” Amanda said about the incident. “I fell down and all of a sudden I see Chris just coming and he just hit the kid as hard as he could.”
Amanda got a measure of revenge later on by driving the player into the boards. Even with her diminutive size, Amanda has shown no reluctance to mix it up with players much bigger than her.
“She’s not afraid to take on anybody twice her size or twice her weight,” Chris said. “She’ll go into the corner with someone who is 6-foot-5 even though she is five-foot.
“Even though she’s a girl, she’s got the attitude of a guy. She’ll take some, but then she’ll dish it out.”
Playing with the boys is nothing new for Amanda. She started playing hockey at the age of five, shortly after her older brother started playing for the first time.
“I saw my brother playing and I figured it looked fun and I wanted to be like him at the time,” Amanda said. “So I figured whatever he did, I would be following him.
“My parents really didn’t want me to play, they wanted me to figure skate. So when I told them I wanted to play they were pretty worried about me. But my brother was pretty excited he would get someone to play with. He was all for it.”
In addition to Hudson Catholic, Amanda has played for two junior teams – one an all-girls team.
Girls playing with the boys has become more common-place on the high school level, but it is still a rarity in this area. Amanda is the first girl to play at Hudson Catholic (the school became co-ed in 2009), and just the fourth ever in Hudson County.
Thanks to Amanda’s experience on the junior level, McGady had little doubt that she’d be able to handle the adjustments of high school hockey.
“I knew that she could do it,” McGady said. “There was just something about her ability to understand what she could do and what she couldn’t do (on the ice), she always played within herself. She never tried to do what was outside of her range and that’s what made her so valuable to the team. She was a steady, stay at home defenseman.”
Amanda finished with seven assists in her freshman season. Chris established himself as one of the area’s premier players with 46 goals and 32 assists. He finished his career with 162 points, the fourth most in school history.
Hudson Catholic’s record was just 4-20, but the progress made by the squad was staggering. Last year the Hawks were 0-22 and the season before that, they endured a 3-19 campaign.
With Chris graduating, he and Amanda will go back to playing on different teams next season. After only previously playing together in open ices or street hockey, this season was an experience both were glad to have.
“It’s been great,” Chris said. “I really never got to play with her because of our age difference. It’s been pretty fun playing with her, she’s a good player.”
Chris Peterson (left) had 46 goals and 32 assists for Hudson Catholic this season.