Game Day: Interview with Florida Panthers’ Goalie Scott Clemmensen

Every netminder has their own way to prepare for a game, their own habits and superstitions that dominate the hours leading up to the puck drop. In the coming weeks, InGoal Magazine will explore some of these rituals with the NHL goaltenders that swear by them. As part of our continuing series, InGoal caught up with Scott Clemmensen, one of the most cerebral of goaltenders, in the visitor’s locker room after a morning skate in Tampa.

Clemmensen, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, was selected by the New Jersey Devils in the eighth round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. After leading the Boston College Eagles to the NCAA Championship in 2001, he subsequently spent four seasons as the back up to Martin Brodeur, interrupted by the 2007 season in Toronto.  In 2008, with Brodeur injured for a large part of the season, Clemmensen appeared in 40 games, posting a 25-13-1 with two shutouts. His 25 wins are the highest total in a season by a goaltender beside Brodeur in New Jersey franchise history. In 2009, the 32 year old netminder signed a long-term contract with the Florida Panthers.

Florida Panther's Goaltender Scott Clemmensen Stands is ground against Washington's Brendan Morrison. Photo thanks to Clydeorama.

InGoal: What is your game day routine and how have you developed it?

SC: “I’m more of a routine-guy, rather than a superstitious guy. Consistency is what this league is all about; we play so many games in so few days that you do get into a routine, and the routine helps you to relax and not have to think about what you need to do. It’s usually the same thing – get up in the morning, go to the pre-game skate; after the skate, go home or back to the hotel and eat, usually around 12:00 or 1 p.m. Then, I like a little pre-game nap for a couple of hours and then after that get up and head to the rink. Keeping it simple and maintaining that routine helps you stay focused on what you need to focus on.

InGoal: Are you looking to achieve a sort of “non-state of mind?”

SC: Absolutely. I think all hockey players can tell you the same thing, that they are constantly losing track of what day of the week it is, because in a hockey player’s world, there are no weekends, there are no days off that you look ahead to. You play every day, seven days a week, so it’s either a gameday or non-gameday. That’s it.

InGoal: How would you describe the state of focus you’re seeking?

SC: As a goalie, the name of the game is consistency, especially at the NHL level. You have to be consistently good, game in and game out. It’s not a situation where you are putting tremendous pressure on yourself every game, but it is one where you just get in the mindset where you take it one game at a time. You just play, regardless of how your year has been going or how much playing time you get or anything like that. You’re just playing for today.

InGoal: Is there a trick to shaking off a bad goal?

SC: Hah! Not really! It’s just something you learn with experience. I always liken playing goalie to being a cornerback in football, where you have to have a selective memory and you learn that in order to play your best you have to be feeling your best. That’s a fact. When you let in a bad goal, it’s tough to have a let-down, but you have to forget about it and move on and just play from that point on for the rest of the game. You don’t focus on what happened in the past, good or bad.

InGoal: How do you train your mind to do that?

SC: That’s something you learn with experience, especially at this level where the players are so good they can score in bunches. The next shot could easily go in, no matter where it’s from, because the shooters are so good. So, from experience, you learn to control that type of mental strength.

Florida Panthers' Goalie Scott Clemmensen stops a shot in a game vs. the Colorado Avalanche. Photo thanks to rosepetal236.

InGoal: Are you the type of goaltender that has to have the same pre-game meal every day?

SC: It’s not important to me to eat the same lunch everyday, especially on the road. We order the same meal, regardless of what city we are in – we always get the same thing: chicken and pasta. When it comes to the road, you don’t really have much of a selection. But even at home, I eat the same sort of things but I’m not so strict that I do have to have exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. I’m pretty flexible with those types of things. I try not to bog my day down into such minutiae that if something doesn’t go right, then I’m off kilter. As long as I’m at the rink on time, two hours before the game, for the most part I’m flexible with my day.

InGoal: Before the game, in the locker room, are you social or do you want to be left alone?

SC: The closer it gets to game time, the more focused I become. Right before and right after the warm-up, for example. But getting to the rink two hours before the game leaves a lot of time to prepare mentally, and I don’t need an entire two hours to get ready for the game mentally. I’ve been thinking about the game for the whole day or even the day before. My philosophy is that every game is different. There won’t be two games that are exactly the same in your entire life, so I don’t like having a superstition where I have to do everything the same each time. I feel like if you are confident in your game, then you’re confident about anything they throw at you. Some games you might have to move laterally a lot, some games you might face 40 or 50 shots while other games you’ll face 15 or 20 shots. If you have a well rounded game and you’re confident in it, then you can go out there and be ready for whatever they throw at you. So I feel that more important than any superstitions is just to be confident in yourself.
Goaltenders by nature are so quirky and weird because they have so much pressure; there is no margin for error as a goalie. A defenseman can make mistakes out there and it won’t cost the team a goal. A goalie’s job, basically, is to be perfect and with that comes a certain level of stress and concentration. I think that the conception that goalies are weird and superstitious all stems from that simple fact.

InGoal: On the day of a game, do you try to push the thoughts about the upcoming game away?

SC: That’s all part of the preparation, thinking about who you are playing against, what they might do, the shooters that they have and their tendencies. These are things that will go through your mind. Also, you think about your own game and what you’ll need to do. Maybe there is something you have been working on specifically in practice and you want to emphasize that during the game, so you will be thinking about that. There are certain things you take into each game.
I don’t think that the pre-game stuff is as stressful as the post-game stuff – the stuff you feel after a game. I have what I call a 24 hour rule where at 24 hours after a game I forget about it and move on, regardless if it’s good or bad. Obviously, if you had a bad game, some goals will bother you and the day after a game you can still be thinking about it, but I don’t carry that baggage with me. I have to move on. I learn from it and move on. If you don’t, it will affect not only your hockey life but your daily life as well. For me, the post-game stuff is harder than the pre-game. Before the game, you’re excited to play; you’re ready to go. After the game, after it’s all said and done, there’s a level of accomplishment or disappointment. The mistakes have to be learned from and then move on.

InGoal: Is it more difficult to prepare when you’re in a back-up situation?

SC: As a back-up, things can be more difficult. This is just a fact. When you’re playing regularly, you get in a rhythm and you’re not thinking as much. You’re body will react differently. But when you haven’t played a lot and you get the chance, your adrenaline is pumping higher so you expend more energy. You’ll be more rigid because you’re stiffer and you’re squeezing the stick harder and that makes it tougher to control rebounds. The game seems very long when you’re not playing regularly. You play out of your comfort zone, and for a goalie to be playing his best, he has to be in his comfort zone. That’s a fact. It’s just more of a challenge but it’s something that you learn to adapt to with time as well.

Lonnie Herman is a writer for Tampabaylightning.com and contributes to several other hockey publications.