Clarkson Making Name for Herself at St. Cloud State
Family Comes First for SCSU's Hailey Clarkson. |
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Nov. 15, 2006
On November 4, 2006, captain Hailey Clarkson became only the fourth Husky in school history to tally 100 points in her collegiate career. With goals scored 3:16 apart in the first period of a 6-0 win against the Vermont Catamounts in Burlington, VT, Clarkson gained the 99th and 100th points of her career, joining only Roxy Stang, Fiona McLeod, and Kristy Oonincx in the elite club of Huskies who have reached the century mark. With a six-point weekend in Vermont including five during the game in which she broke 100 points she moved past Oonincx and Ricki-Lee Doyle to become 7th all-time in scoring at St. Cloud State, with plenty more within striking distance.
"Right now, I'm just so focused on the season that I don't think it's really sinking in yet," Clarkson says. "Maybe after the season's over I'll be able to look back and be proud that I was able to reach that level in my career.
"The funny thing is that at the pre-game meal, someone was talking about points or asking me how many points I had at the end of last season, and then Celest (Stang, SCSU assistant media relations director) happened to be at the table, and she said, OeWell, I didn't want to jinx you, but you only need two more points for a hundred.' It seemed kind of random that it just happened to come up for me right before the game that it happened in. I really had no idea how far away I was before that point. It's not something I ever really paid much attention to."
With the lion's share of her final campaign still ahead of her, Clarkson is in the top 10 in school history in career points, goals, assists, power play goals, and shots on goal, but she is quick to point out the efforts of others before calling attention to her own accolades.
"A lot of that really doesn't even have much to do with just me. It's the opportunities that I've been given by the coaching staff, the people that I've been able to play with, and being on the ice for a lot of power play opportunities. That's what I see when I look at those statistics I was fortunate enough to get the chances to put up those numbers."
Of note, Clarkson's freshman year, which she spent at the University of Findlay in Ohio, was quite productive, with 13 goals and 21 assists contributing 34 points to her just-reached landmark.
"Denelle Maguet and I visited a lot of schools when we were trying to decide where we were going to go," Clarkson told USCHO.com last year. "They offered us a better deal financially than a lot of other schools, and we knew a girl from Manitoba there and it worked out perfectly that we could both go there."
Just before the spring semester began, Findlay announced that they were removing both men's and women's hockey from varsity status.
"We had a practice, and our coach (Adam Brinker) was goofing around and never getting mad, and we had a meeting with the athletic director right after practice to hear the news. Right after we found out, we went on a seven-game unbeaten streak (the Oilers were 9-1-1 in the 11 games following the announcement). We were obviously pretty mad about it and we wanted to show Findlay exactly what they were going to be missing out on we had something really good going.
"After the announcement, it felt like we were back in high school again. We had lots of coaches calling, but now we had the advantage of knowing what we liked about college and knowing what might be better at some other places. It was tough between going to class and playing hockey to fit in visits to other schools but we made it work."
Clarkson ended up transferring to a school she hadn't even seen before: St. Cloud State.
"I never made a visit to St. Cloud, but Denelle came here. I talked to OeGoose' (now-head coach Jeff Giesen) on the phone and he seemed like a nice guy. She told me that it was a small city and that campus wasn't really big but that everyone was really nice so we just chose to come here."
The transition to a new team was much smoother than might have been expected.
"The coaches had a lot of expectations for Denelle and I because we did have such good rookie years at Findlay. When we first went to Findlay there were no expectations, you just went out there and did what you could. But coming here, there was a little more pressure on us. All of the girls were fun to get to know, the team was fun, and the coaching staff was really helpful in helping us to fit in.
"The league we were in at Findlay (College Hockey America) wasn't as challenging every weekend as the WCHA is. There a lot of weekends against teams you knew were weaker where you were mostly just building some confidence, and just like here I was just really fortunate to be able to play on a line with their leading goal scorer right from the start, and be able to get a lot of time in on the power play. That gave me a chance to put up those kinds of numbers."
Clarkson grew up in Winnipegosis, a small farm town of around 800 on the banks of the Mossey River, which flows into Lake Winnipegosis, the second largest lake in Manitoba.
"Family is number one. It's because of them that I'm where I am today, and not just my parents and my sister. They're a huge part, but growing up in a small town like Winnipegosis, it's like everyone raises you and everyone's a part of your life. Having the support of everyone in that town just makes a huge difference, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for every one of them believing in me."
She started playing hockey early on in life, from the age of five.
"There were maybe four small towns that came to Winnipegosis who would come together to have enough people to make a hockey team. That was kinda cool, because we got to meet different people from different areas."
It was through hockey that Clarkson first met teammate and life-long friend Denelle Maguet, who grew up just an hour and a half away in Ste. Rose.
"We were playing against each other from the age of five and we've been playing together on teams since we were thirteen." The two played together on an youth All-Star team in Quebec at the age of 16, then played together on the Parkland Panthers in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba before matriculating at Findlay and then transferring to St. Cloud State together.
Clarkson also excelled at other sports in high school, lettering in volleyball, basketball and golf.
At St. Cloud State, Clarkson has continued to make a name for herself on the ice. As a sophomore, in her first season with the Huskies, she led the team in assists with 17, and then proceeded to lead the team in goals as a junior with 17 last season, which helped earn her WCHA Third-Team honors and the title of Most Valuable Player. Her hard work, dedication, and leadership led to earning the "C" on her chest this season as a co-captain with Denelle Maguet.
"This season has been a good learning experience for us so far. There are a lot of new faces not only on the team with the players but also with the coaching staff. I think we are getting to a point where we are all starting to understand our roles on the team and are starting to read each other and know what's going to be best to help someone else have a better game." Clarkson
"I love the series with Minnesota. I love the home-and-home series. They're always a challenge because they've kind of put themselves at the top and it's always fun being the underdog, trying to knock them off the top of the pile. I always look forward to this series."
Fun Facts
Favorite Food: "Pizza. Just pizza in general."
Favorite Hobby: "Playing guitar."
Favorite Music: "Anything that Carmen [Lizee] sings while I play guitar."
Favorite Movie: "I just watched Wayne's World and it's more funny when you watch it when you're older. I think that might be my favorite movie right now, but basically the last movie I saw is usually my favorite movie."
Favorite Book: "I really like all of Dan Brown's books, like The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. Any of those ones."
Favorite Pasttime: "Hanging out in my apartment with my roommates. I live with Brittni (Kuyper), Carmen (Lizee), and (Gretchen) Norby, and we just have a blast without having to go anywhere. Besides that, Diane's Diner in Waite Park."
Favorite Car: "Whichever car my teammates give me to drive! Sometimes it's the "Red Hearse," sometimes the "Green Bus." If not that, it's the yellow bikes."
Favorite Hockey Moment: "Last year when we swept Duluth. That was huge. I'll never forget after the series was over, when we were all just sitting there in the locker room, feeling completely dead, but it was like "hey, we won!' It was so nice."
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