His size doesn’t matter

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This article was published 20/03/2010 (5927 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He plays a foot taller than he actually is.

But the big question now is can the diminutive Kevin Clark continue to play the role of agitator in a league where most of his opponents really will be a foot taller than him.

Clark, a 22-year-old product of the Winnipeg minor hockey system, made his pro hockey debut with the Manitoba Moose on Friday, practising with the club in the morning, then skating with the team in the pre-game warm-up Friday night.

Though Clark didn’t play against Grand Rapids at the MTS Centre last night, it seems likely the forward will get a look at some point in the next few weeks as the Moose look for a late spark to finally light the charge that has been missing from this club through 69 regular-season games.

Clark has made getting under the skin of opponents his specialty through an amateur career that has taken him from Winnipeg minor hockey to the MJHL’s Winnipeg South Blues to the University of Alaska-Anchorage, where he played the last four seasons before the Moose plucked him this week after the Seawolves were eliminated from the NCAA playoffs.

Clark was the leading scorer for the Wolves this season, notching 19 goals and 14 assists in 32 games — plus 75 minutes in penalties that are the inevitable result of a style of play that Clark’s new head coach described Friday in blunt terms.

"He’s a pest — that’s the best way to describe him," says Scott Arniel. "He really gets under players’ skins. He hacks, whacks, runs people — he’s not a big-body guy, but he plays like a 6-5 guy."

Undrafted, in part because of his size, Clark is generously listed as 5-foot-8, 155 pounds and will almost certainly be the smallest player on any AHL ice surface he might see this season.

Of course, the same was true of Dan Sexton, who also auditioned with the Moose this season and is currently playing with the Anaheim Ducks, proving it’s the size of the heart in the man that matters most.

The difference, though, was Sexton was not the kind of player who went looking for trouble, whereas Clark thrives on either finding it or creating it.

So can a small guy play the role of agitator in a league where men are men and boys don’t last long?

"That’s kind of tough, but that’s the fun part as well," the Shaftesbury High School grad says. "You want to see how you’re going to do at that level. That’s going to be a challenge, I guess, but I’m excited for it. And it’s going to be a fun time here."

Clark says he has no illusions about the big jump in competition to the AHL.

"I set high expectations for myself, but it’s a step up, obviously," he says. "Guys up here are a step below the NHL, and coming from college level, it’s not going to be easy. I don’t want to expect too much, but at the same time I want to put pressure on myself to perform.

"I like to get under guys’ skin…(But) you want to make sure you don’t cross the line and you play within your game as well. Because if you’re not contributing and doing that, it doesn’t look that good at all."

Clark does point out, however, that he comes here from an elite college league — the WCHA — that includes bona fide NHL prospects, including his new Moose teammate, Jordan Schroeder.

Schroeder, the 2009 first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks, played against Clark this season as a member of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Schroeder joined the Moose Friday and will practise with the club for the first time this morning. He could see action as early as tomorrow in the rematch against Grand Rapids, and Arniel says he won’t hesitate to bump another Moose veteran from the lineup to also make room for Clark if he shows well in practice.

"The mentality here is the best players will play," Arniel says.

In a season that has seen the Moose underachieve, that’s an opportunity for a kid with heart and an attitude, no matter the size.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca