Fury sign Jeff Petruic
October 24, 2005 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release
MUSKEGON, MI.--- With their grand opening night bonanza extravaganza lurking on the near horizon, the two-time reigning Colonial Cup Champions of the United Hockey League, the Muskegon Fury, have completed a key, major player acquisition that would appear to augment and otherwise accentuate their offensive attack for the 2005-06 season.
On this date, the Fury Team Owner and Club President Tony Lisman, in concert with Director of Operations / Head Coach Todd Nelson, have announced that veteran high-scoring right wing JEFF PETRUIC has agreed to terms and signed a one-year contract with Muskegon for the 2005-06 campaign. Adhering to club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. With this latest Fury transaction consummated today, the newest Muskegon acquisition arrives on the Fury championship landscape virtually on the eve of the home opening night, Saturday night against the Elmira Jackals.
PETRUIC, 31, will be inaugurating his 12th pro season, his first with the Fury and his third in the UHL. Obtained by Muskegon as a free agent, the rangy 6-3, 190lb sharp-shooter is generally recognized and acknowledged as one of the premiere goal-scoring artisans in all of minor pro hockey. To elucidate and illuminate, the Avonlea, Saskatchewan native, in 624-pro career games, has fired a prolific 365-goals while adding another 297-assists for a total of 662-points for an average of over one point per game. He has averaged scoring over 33-goals each season since graduating to the professional ranks back in 1994-95.
His most prodigious season came in his first tour of duty in the UHL, back in the 2001-02 season when he starred for the since-defunct Asheville Smoke. In that particular campaign, Petruic captured the UHL scoring title by amassing an astronomical and career-best 114-points on a league-high and all-time career season-equaling 57-goals and 57-assists. Included in those high-tech, high-octane numbers were a league-tops 10-GWG, which fell one GWG shy of his new teammate Robin Bouchard's all-time league record of 11, and 18-PPG, which ranked runner-up in the loop.
However, the Fury remember him best for his extraordinary performance as a member of the Missouri River Otters opposition in the 2003-04 season when he sizzled 43-goals and 68-points with nearly one-quarter of those strikes, 10, stoked in 11-outings against the Colonial Cup III team. In fact, of Petruic's club-high 4-SHG that season, 3 of them were authored against Muskegon.
Third-year coach Nelson has all-too-vivid recollections, most of the haunting variety, of Petruic's potent precision against his Fury club. "We remember him all-too-well when he played in Missouri. He was absolutely excellent against us as he was against the whole league. It will be great to have Jeff on our side for a change; especially considering that he really satisfies a void created when we lost some significant goal-production from last season's championship club. We feel that we have found the right guy to fill that void. Jeff possesses some outstanding talents. He is highly-skilled, a strong skater and he is particularly strong driving to the net. In short, he can score and we anticipate him to fulfill a lot of that responsibility in our goal-scoring department."
During his illustrious pro career, Petruic has composed eight 30-goal seasons, five 40-goal campaigns and three 50-goal years.
Last season, in the 2004-05 campaign, he toiled in some rather relative obscurity and anonymity in the QSPHL, (Quebec Senior Professional Hockey League) with a trio of different teams in his first-ever experience in the Quebec-based league.
With the Petruic addition to the Fury lineup, he is reunited with a former teammate and line-mate from his earlier pro days. In the 1999-00 season, he played on the same line as Muskegon's second all-time leading scoring architect, Todd Robinson when the latter was being named Rookie of the Year in the WCHL with the Idaho Steelheads. That season, with Robinson as his center, Petruic fashioned 57-goals among his 86-points while "T. Rob" attained the prestigious century-point plateau with (30-71-101).
In the two full seasons in which he has performed his craft in the UHL, Petruic has been prodigious and prolific. In that span, he has delivered exactly 100-goals and registered a total of 182-points; 136(100-82-182) for a per season average of 50-goals and 91-points.
Six times in his pro career, he has led his team in the goal-scoring category. Prior to his pro career, he played Major Junior âA' in the WHL with Moose Jaw, Tri-City and Regina.
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