A year ago, Brandt Clarke could have felt sorry for himself. Ignored by Junior Team Canada, who didn’t even invite him to their selection camp, the defenseman rolled up his sleeves and is now a national team member with nine-game NHL experience as a bonus.
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News of his non-invitation caused a bit of an uproar on November 30, 2021. Clarke, captain of the Barrie Colts and eighth overall pick in the Los Angeles Kings draft a few months earlier, had 23 points in 17 games invites at the time of the announcement.
Several junior hockey observers then voiced their disapproval of this omission.
Then COVID-19 forced World Juniors to be canceled mid-tournament and postponed to August. Despite the absence of some players who were there in December, Clarke was again passed over.
“I WAS FRUSTRATED”
“I was frustrated,” revealed the right-back. I felt like I could have been one of the best players on the team last Christmas just like I was in August. But in the end, that wasn’t the path they wanted to take, so I decided to use it positively.
“I said to myself: I’m going to make my place in the NHL this year. And I did. »
He actually did. After a good training camp, the Kings decided to keep him on the team, with whom he played his first nine games at the big circuit and collected two assists, in addition to five games in the American League, where he had one goal and one assist.
A MORE MATURE GAME
“I never really had any explanations, so I really used it [le fait d’être ignoré] as motivation and I decided to work on improving every aspect of my game and I also worked a lot on my character. If I hadn’t done that, I don’t think I could play with the Kings this year. »
The California team then agreed to loan Clarke to ECJ so he could experience what he couldn’t last year.
For Allan Millar, Hockey Canada’s director of excellence programs, the past year has allowed Clarke to work on some aspects that were missing last year.
“His game has matured a lot. His year in Barrie as team captain and subsequent experience in the NHL and AHL served him well.
“We’ve always valued Brandt’s game for his skill and ability to control the tempo of a game, especially offensively. I now think his defensive play is underrated. He used to not elaborate on certain details, but the last year has made him more mature and complete. »