Goaltender Matt Climie Juggles Hockey, Life and Even a Few Pucks
Matt Climie never operates without a backup plan.
That’s because he’s all too familiar with being the backup.
“It’s been funny,” Climie said. “Honestly, every team I’ve been on since I was IN Pee-Wee, I’ve always gone in as the underdog role. Nothing’s been easy for me. Nothing’s really been given to me. Ever.”
When he played junior hockey for the Kimberley Dynamiters in British Columbia, he wasn’t even the best Climie on the team. His older brother, Chris, was the team’s primary goaltender. Oh, by the way, their team went bankrupt and folded – during the playoffs.
Matt found work the following season with the Bonnyville Pontiacs, but the job stability didn’t get much better. He was traded for $500 shortly before his second season started, so he had to steer his aging Pontiac Sunfire 2,950 miles across Canada (from Alberta to Nova Scotia) in order to report to his new team.
After enjoying two seasons in Nova Scotia and exhausting his junior-league eligibility, Climie signed with Bemidji State University at the age of 20. He wasn’t exactly a hot recruit. “I was pretty much a walk-on,” he said. “I was slated as a third goalie going in. Not much scholarship money at all. Probably the smallest scholarship on the team.”
Sensing a pattern here? Climie certainly did.
That’s why, fearing he’d never earn a professional contract after playing for Bemidji State, Climie wrapped up his college degree in three-and-a-half years and earned his teacher’s license in 2008.
“I student-taught Grade 6,” Climie said. “I was teaching everything. Math, Science, Social Studies. That was my career path. I wanted to get into the whole administration thing. Teach for a couple years, then get my master’s. Principal, vice-principal, one of those. Maybe even athletic director.”
Though Climie has long since outgrown the need to teach in order to make a living – he ranks among the American Hockey League’s top goaltenders this year and rests just one step away from a spot in the National Hockey League – the 29-year-old carries two backup options into this upcoming offseason.
“I’m actually starting my own goalie school in my hometown (Leduc, Alberta),” Climie said. “I want to get into coaching and running hockey schools in the summertime. At the same time, I’m probably going to go back and get my firefighting license. I’d have that to fall back on if I want to go in that direction.”
Climie has buddies who are firefighters, but that’s not what inspires his desire to join their ranks.
“Being a firefighter, it’s kind of like a hockey team,” Climie said. “You’re working together as a team. You’re hanging out a lot. The job in general just kind of fits me. It’s competitive and you’ve got to be in shape.”
The word “competitive” or its variations invariably are used to describe the 6-foot-3, 197-pound Climie – whose perpetual smile contradicts his persistent nature.
“I see a high degree of competitiveness,” said Wolves head coach Craig MacTavish. “He’s a real competitor in the games. He’s a patient, experienced, competitive goalie. He gives us a chance virtually every night. He won us some games early, as did Eddie (Lack), that our team would not or should not have won without their goaltending being at that level.”
Some goalies would have noticed the 23-year-old Lack’s name on the depth chart (he’s the Vancouver Canucks’ top goalie prospect) and opted to sign with another National Hockey League team. Climie noted Lack’s presence on the roster – as well as the Chicago Wolves commitment to winning – and thought it was the ideal opportunity.
“Really, I feel that competition is good,” Climie said. “It’s good to have and obviously Eddie’s a great goalie. I just feel that competition makes you a better individual. It just develops you. I feel I play that much better when I have to earn my ice time. I don’t want to be given anything.”
Lack handled seven of the Wolves first 10 games this season. But after Climie held strong for a 2-1 victory on Nov. 4 at Peoria, he was rewarded with four consecutive starts and he repaid the Wolves with four consecutive wins.
His spree ended because the Canucks called him up for one game due to an injury to Vancouver starter Roberto Luongo. Climie didn’t appear in that game (backup Cory Schneider handled the net), but it wasn’t like he missed out on his first opportunity to appear in a NHL game. Contrary to his traditional career trajectory, Climie reached the NHL with unexpected swiftness after graduating from Bemidji State.
Less than 13 months after playing his final game for Bemidji State, Climie won his NHL debut for the Dallas Stars on April 4, 2009. He leaped straight from Dallas’ East Coast Hockey League affiliate because the Stars didn’t have an AHL team at the time. He stayed for three games and posted two wins.
“It doesn’t happen too often where a guy goes from the East Coast to the NHL,” Climie said. “Such a good experience. I got my puck and obviously the gear that I used in those games. I’ve still got all my equipment.”
But then it was back to fighting for anything he could get in the minors. After his ECHL team was swept in the first round of the playoffs, the AHL’s Houston Aeros picked him up and Climie became part of a four-goalie rotation for a team that reached the 2009 Western Conference Finals.
“It was kind of a crazy deal, but I just took it for what it was and enjoyed the process,” Climie said.
Climie moved to the Texas Stars in 2010 and sparked them to the Calder Cup Finals (he helped knock out the Wolves in the West Division Finals) before posting 26 wins and a 2.64 goals against average last season with the San Antonio Rampage.
In each of those seasons, Climie appeared in one NHL game. Like everyone else wearing a Wolves uniform, he’d like to move to the NHL to stay – and he has done nothing but improve his chances while with the Wolves.
“I knew Matt was a really good goalie, especially because he single-handedly defeated us in that series a couple years ago,” said Wolves general manager Wendell Young. “But even with all that said and how confident I was in him when he signed this year, he has exceeded expectations even above that.
“He is a student of the game. He is a competitor. Since I started watching him in the American League, his positioning is way better. He’s a lot more under control.”
Through the games of Feb. 15, Climie owned a 15-7-0 record with a 2.39 GAA and a .927 save percentage. The latter number ranks third in the AHL. His success presents a bit of a dilemma for the Wolves. Climie has a two-way contract with Vancouver this season, but a one-way deal with the Wolves next year. That means he’ll return to Chicago in 2012-13 unless he gets a one-way deal with an NHL team.
Young jokes that he wants Climie to be really good, but not THAT good, before turning serious.
“No, we want our guys to succeed,” Young said. “That’s what we want. We’re excited as an organization that they go up. It speaks well of our organization. If players keep going up to the NHL, it speaks to what we’ve done. If he can succeed somewhere else next year, then we did our job.”
Wolves Left Wing Bill Sweatt Knows There’s More Than One Route to Making it Big in the World.
The week before Bill Sweatt made his National Hockey League debut on Dec. 9 for the Vancouver Canucks in Montreal, the Chicago Wolves forward underwent another serious test in a less-hostile environment: the comfort of his own home.
Sweatt wrapped up the final exam in his 800-level Contemporary Managerial Accounting class – his first step toward earning an MBA in Finance via the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s online program.
If you can’t figure out why a 23-year-old with a bright hockey future feels the need to pursue a master’s degree in his spare time, then you need to understand how the Sweatt family operates.
Long before the Chicago Blackhawks made Sweatt their second-round choice in the 2007 NHL entry draft, Walter and Dottie Sweatt made sure their two sons knew that excellence must be pursued with equal fervor on the ice and in the classroom.
“It’s something our parents instilled in us,” Bill said. “You’ve got to be the best at both. You can’t just slack off in school and just try to be a hockey player – or the other way around. You’ve got to do both.”
Bill and his brother, Lee, learned these lessons while growing up in west suburban Lombard and Elburn. They spent their early years in a townhouse across the street from Yorktown Mall in Lombard, but their burgeoning passion for hockey forced them to find a new address.
“They didn’t have a place to shoot,” Dottie said. “I looked for a house that had a full basement. Basically, that was our criteria. We had to have a full basement where the furnace wasn’t in the middle of the room.”
Dottie’s long search finally led her to Elburn, where the Sweatt boys could have a 10-foot-high ceiling and everything else they needed for training.
Dottie, who grew up in Rhode Island and went to the Boston Garden every Sunday to watch Bobby Orr play for the Bruins, insisted on going to Canada to purchase NHL-regulation nets for the basement. Walter, who was a standout defensive back for Wofford College in the early 1960s, insisted on installing an 80-pound punching bag.
“That’s where our father taught us how to hit,” Lee said. “We practiced our checking on that. And we had 200 or so pucks. We’d be in the basement on roller blades working out and shooting.”
When the Sweatts started to play on travel teams, there weren’t any rinks close to Elburn. Bill starred for the Glen Ellyn Flames, Oak Park Eagles, Highland Park Falcons, Chicago Young Americans and Team Illinois over the course of 10 years.
Kenny McCudden, the Wolves skating and skills coach, tutored the Sweatt boys during their time with the Flames. “You knew at that age (they would be special),” McCudden said. “You could see the drive, the desire. They were the only two guys I had to try to put the reins on because they were hitting guys during the skill sessions. Yeah, they were taking guys out.”
“That sounds like Lee,” Bill said. “That doesn’t sound like me.”
“That is definitely true,” Lee said.
As the boys climbed the hockey ladder, they required increasingly longer trips in order to practice and play. Dottie says the family wore out three minivans on their treks, which makes sense considering it’s a 130-mile roundtrip from Elburn to the north suburbs and there were at least two practices and two games each week.
Because they had to depart immediately after school and didn’t return home until 9 or 10 p.m., the Sweatts had to get their homework done in the van – and they had to do it before they could play video games or watch movies.
“If you’re going to do your best in hockey, do your best in your studies as well,” Dottie said. “If you don’t make it in hockey, what do you fall back on? You can’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Lee, who graduated from Kaneland High School in 2003, received a scholarship to play at Colorado College, where he graduated with a 3.8 GPA in Mathematical Economics. He’s also expecting to wrap up his work for three master’s degrees (in finance, technology management, and project management) in May.
Bill spent his freshman year at Kaneland before moving to Ann Arbor, Mich., in 2004 to join USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. In addition to picking up a pair of gold medals for his hockey prowess – he was voted “Top Forward” at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Under-18 World Championships in 2006 – he finished his final three years of high school in two years so he could play with Lee for a season at Colorado College.
After his freshman year at Colorado College, the Blackhawks made Bill the 38th overall selection in the 2007 draft. He opted not to accept the Blackhawks’ offer and returned to school. He could have reversed his decision after each college season, but never considered leaving.
“My agent asked me every summer,” Bill said. “I never wanted to go. I always wanted to stay and get my (Mathematical Economics) degree because hockey is a short life. It doesn’t last forever.”
If you think that’s lip service, consider Lee’s unlikely choice this summer. A 26-year-old defenseman, Lee played in 3 games for the Vancouver Canucks last season and signed a free-agent deal with the Ottawa Senators in July. But a month later – before training camp began – Lee retired in order to become a financial advisor in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I made a good decision,” said Lee, who wants to help young professional hockey players manage their bonuses. “I’m happy now. I’m really enjoying what I’m doing. I watch guys blow their money all the time. Just the power of saving a portion of that money is incredible. I don’t really miss it at all.”
That having been said, Lee couldn’t get to Montreal quickly enough to witness his brother’s NHL debut on Dec. 9.
“We are exceptionally competitive when it comes to all things,” Lee said the day before the game. “We do very similar things and compete in a lot of areas. It’s a nice compliment that he’s following a little bit in my footsteps – and he’s successful at it.
“I had one remaining bragging right on him: playing in the NHL. That’s going to go by the wayside – and I couldn’t be happier.”
Dottie, on the other hand, could be a little bit happier. The self-described hockey fanatic thinks Bill’s rate of progress on the ice is great, but she’d like to see him pick up the pace on his MBA.
“Now that he’s got his feet wet, I’d like to see him take two courses now,” Dottie said. “That’d be great.”
EA Sports NHL 10 – Zack Stortini
NHL 10: Zack Stortini talks fighting
IGN: What’s new with fighting in NHL 10, which is always a favorite in both videogame hockey and the real sport?
Zack Stortini: Fighting in videogames wasn’t as realistic as it could be. Now with NHL 10, it’s so realistic. I met with EA in December and was able to talk with them about that aspect of the game. They’ve really hit the nail on the head with it. The skills that are involved in fighting…I don’t think a lot of people realize the techniques and how hard it actually is to punch a guy in the face when you’re fighting. He’s dodging you and they definitely captured that. The first-person vision really adds to the fights. You see the guy’s face and as you get hit, your focus is closing in on you. That’s exactly how it feels when you’re fighting on the ice.
IGN: What’s your favorite technique to pummel an opponent?
Zack Stortini: For me, it’s always changing. I think they’ve been able to capture all of the different styles. One of the skills they captured was the jersey pull, where you give the guy a quick tuck on the jersey and get him off balance and be able to go on the offense and throw a lot more punches.
IGN: What do you guys say before you go at it on the ice?
Zack Stortini: Sometimes it’s really simple like, “Let’s go!” or “Fight now” kind of a thing or it could be very censored and I can’t repeat it. It ranges and varies depending on the guy and the game and each situation.
IGN: In the real sport winning a fight can shift the momentum of a game, especially for the home team. How did you help with that aspect of the new videogame?
Zack Stortini: They did a great job of not only capturing the momentum of the game and swings it in favor of the guy who won the fight, but also with big hits and finishing your checks and forcing turnovers. They capture the culture of the game. If you go after a skill guy, there’s somebody on the other team who’s going to go up to you and say, “Hey, you can’t go after him. If you want to fight, you fight me.” Sticking up for your teammates is important. We were playing Edmonton versus Calgary today and when I went up against some of their skill guys, their teammates definitely were ready to fight me. It’s amazing that they’re able to do that.
IGN: How does the board play impact NHL 10?
Zack Stortini: For a guy like me, board play is a big part of my game. When you dump the puck in to hit and pin their D or to work the puck along the boards and move it from your skate to your stick to protect it along the boards to start cycles and create offensive pressure and offensive zone time, that’s all in the game. If there’s a bigger guy in there with a smaller guy, the bigger guy will have the advantage. Just like the smaller guy will have the advantage in speed and puck handling.
IGN: What role do those scrums after the whistle blows play in your sport and now in NHL 10?
Zack Stortini: There’s a game to be played within the game, as well. A lot of time it’s between the whistles. There’s a time and place for everything. Games in the past haven’t had that after the whistle play. They’ve done a great job of capturing that. You can start scrums in front of the net or if there’s a late hit, you can give a guy a face wash or spin him around and get him to fight. You can slash and hack and do all of that stuff that gets under guys’ skin and creates that animosity and that hatred for one another. It’s a lot of fun and it makes the game extremely realistic.
IGN: What role does fighting play in your sport today?
Zack Stortini: There are a lot of positives. It’s the history of the game. This is the same game today as it was when Gordie Howe and Rocket Richard played. It’s an integral part of the game. It creates space and room for your skilled guys by making them feel more comfortable on the ice. It changes the momentum of the game when your team needs it. It shows willingness to compete in hand-to-hand combat where you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for your team. It creates that chemistry and bond with guys on the team. It energizes not only everybody on the team, but the fans, as well.
Zack Stortini endorses Weber Mazda of Edmonton
Zack Stortini at NHL 10 Community Day
With the NHL 10 Community Day in the books we’re off to editing the footage that we took from the training session at Twist Conditioning to the comments & feedback from the community members that had the chance to play the game here last Friday. Our team of editors are hard at work and are planning to share some cool videos in the near future but in the meantime, I had the chance to record some of the Q&A with Zack Stortini off my small Mino HD camera to share with you here. Excuse the shaky cam and poor audio…someone get me a stand & a mic! And stay tuned for more producer video blogs to come over the next week as well, including the first one from gameplay producer Sean Ramjagsingh later today.
Los Angeles King Dustin Brown shoots a promotional skit at the Price Is Right at CBS Television Studios on September 9, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.
