WATCH ABOVE: Nic Petan’s parents talk about his hat trick, their superstitions and Canada’s team at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
TORONTO – Nic Petan’s father says he came within inches of jinxing his son’s World Junior hat trick Sunday night against Slovakia.
Petan scored three goals in last night’s 5-1 victory that secured Canada a spot in Monday’s gold medal game. Broadcast cameras caught Franc Petan throwing the hat onto the ice following the goal and social media exploded with people talking about the scene.
But Franc Petan didn’t even buy the hat. In fact, the person who was sitting behind him went and bought it for him following his son’s second goal in anticipation of the third.
He said he took the hat at first but gave it back so he wouldn’t jinx his son.
“Actually I didn’t even see Slovakia score and right from there, I said ‘take these hats right away, take them back,’” he said.
“They gave me the hat back after that third goal he scored. You know what, I was so happy to go down there and throw it on the ice.”
His hat trick made him the tournament’s leading scorer heading into the gold medal game with 11 points, 7 assists and 4 goals.
The puck drops in the gold medal game at 8 p.m. ET at the Air Canada Centre.
Nic Petan’s parents, Franc and Rosanna have been at every game and say, like most superstitious hockey players, they try to do the same thing before every game, including wearing their jerseys.
“We are definitely going to be wearing our jerseys again tonight,” she said. “It’s always exciting at any stage. But this is pretty big and we can’t be any more proud. It’s amazing just to watch all the boys play for Canada and wear the leaf on their chest. It’s great.”
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