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There might not be anyone in the hockey world who knows Connor Hellebuyck as well as Joe Clark. The Augusta native and Hellebuyck have been close for 15 years, since Clark coached the goalie as a junior player with the Odessa Jackalopes in 2011.
Hellebuyck’s 41-save effort turned in a 2-1 overtime win over Canada on Sunday in the Olympic gold medal game? Clark saw that coming a month ago when he visited Hellebuyck in Winnipeg, where he’s the goalie for the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.
Clark watched the Jets practice. The team was in the midst of an 11-game winless streak, but Hellebuyck’s energy remained high. Everything was light. He was chirping at guys on the ice. Hellebuyck was having fun.
Later, back at Hellebuyck’s home, he and Clark talked about it. For a decade, Clark has known exactly how to help Hellebuyck find the right place mentally to be one of the best goaltenders in the world. He helped him make the jump from juniors to the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, to Team USA, which on Sunday won its first Olympic gold medal in 46 years.
“I said ‘You’ve got to continue to do what you’re doing.’ I said ‘Your mindset is everything. The team may be circling the drain, but you can’t,’” Clark said Monday afternoon in a phone interview from his home in McCool Junction, Nebraska.
Clark’s had a huge part in Hellebuyck’s development from a good junior goalie, to a collegiate All-American, to the best goalie in the NHL, to now the best goalie in the world. Soon after winning his first Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, Hellebuyck talked about what Clark has meant to his career.
“The biggest thing is he helps me if I feel too good about myself or not good enough,” Hellebuyck said in 2020. “He taught me how to be even with my emotions. How not to let the game play me.”
That’s exactly what Clark saw in Hellebuyck, who won his third Vezina last season as well as the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP, on that visit to Winnipeg. A confident player having a blast playing the game, ready for the biggest stage of the Olympics.
When you walk into that locker room, Clark told Hellebuyck, you are going to be the most decorated player on the roster. So make sure your aura spreads.
“I don’t even know if it needed to happen because you’ve got guys like the Tkachuk brothers (Brady and Matt) and the Hughes brothers (Jack and Quinn) and just a great lineup of guys who know how to deflect the big moments,” Clark said. “So I kind of knew this Olympic break was an opportunity for a breath of fresh air for him.”
Hellebuyck was fully recovered from a minor knee injury that sidelined him early in the NHL season. He just had to play. From the first game of the tournament, a 5-1 win over Latvia, Clark could see Hellebuyck was sharp.
Hellebuyck finished the Olympics with an incredible .956 save percentage and 1.18 goals against average. The save that will be remembered forever is the one he made on Canada’s Devon Toews in the third period of the gold medal game. Hellebuyck stretched his right arm and got the paddle of his stick on the ice, deflecting Toews’ chance at an open net to keep the score knotted at 1-1.
“You have to have luck, and he had luck at that moment, but he had that second effort in the battle to even attempt that. Ninety-nine times out of 100, that’s going in,” Clark said. “As I do, he believes in luck. You need that to win a Stanley Cup. You need that to win a gold medal.”
Clark and Hellebuyck texted during the Olympics. After the US beat Slovakia to advance to the gold medal game, Hellebuyck told Clark about the goal he surrendered to lose the shutout. With the game well in hand, Hellebuyck chased a puck. It got behind him, and in a scramble Slovakia scored.
“He said ‘I was mad about that goal, but I did it out of pure boredom.’ He’s keeping it light, and he’s in total control of his mindset,” Clark said.
Before the Olympics, Hellebuyck was hockey famous. Fans of the NHL knew him and his accolades, but playing in Winnipeg makes Hellebuyck rather anonymous. Now, he’s a national hero. His effort in the Olympics is the kind of thing that gets you on the morning talk shows, or “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” or “Saturday Night Live.” It gets you on a Wheaties box.
Clark sent Hellebuyck a congratulatory text. He expects he’ll hear back in a few days, when the excitement eases a little and Hellebuyck is back in Winnipeg ready to resume the season. Clark expects Hellebuyck’s mental sharpness to carry over.
“A lot of younger players, especially goalies, it’s hard to master that. It takes time,” Clark said. “He’s 32 and he’s mastered it, but it’s taken time.”
The best goalie in the world was at his best when Team USA needed him. Fans across the country can thank Augusta’s Clark for helping Hellebuyck get to the point where the big moment isn’t too big.
Travis Lazarczyk has covered sports for the Portland Press Herald since 2021. A Vermont native, he graduated from the University of Maine in 1995 with a BA in English. After a few years working as a sports… More by Travis Lazarczyk
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