Surreal night for Clark as Stars retire her #13

Emily Clark waves to the crowd at Merlis Belsher Place.

    It seemed like fate played a hand when it came to Emily Clark wearing #13 for the Saskatoon Stars.

    When the skilled forward joined the female midget AAA team before the start of the 2009-10 campaign, she was still 13-years-old due to having a birthday in late November. As an underage rookie player, Clark remembers she didn’t have many options when it came to picking a number.

    “I ended up wearing it (#13) because when I played on the Stars I was 13-years-old, and I was the youngest,” said Clark. “I had last pick of jerseys and #13 and #21 were up for grabs.

    “I think #13 might have been a smaller jersey, so I ended up in #13. I made it my own, and it ended up being one of my favourite numbers.”

    Wearing #13, Clark became one of the Stars all-time greats. 

Emily Clark, left, is greeted by her father, Del.

    After graduating from the team, she played four seasons with the Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks winning an NCAA championship last season in her final campaign with the squad.

    The 24-year-old has been a fixture in Canada’s national team system first playing with the under-18 women’s team for two seasons before joining the senior national women’s team. Clark skated with the national women’s development team too.

    Last year, Clark played for Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She had a goal in Canada’s 5-0 semifinal win over the Olympic Athletes from Russia.

    Canada fell 3-2 to the United States in the gold medal game after a tiebreaking shootout.

    Due to all her accomplishments, the Stars honoured Clark on Friday night by retiring her #13 before their SFMAAAHL regular season encounter at Merlis Belsher Place with the league leading Regina Rebels. The Stars led 3-1 in the third period before the Rebels rallied for a 4-3 victory.

Emily Clark, second from left, receives gifts from two Stars players.

    Clark found it hard to describe what it was like to see her old number with the Stars raised up at Merlis Belsher Place standing next to her parents in father, Del, and mother, Tracy.

    “It is hard to put into words,” said Clark. “I think surreal is definitely what comes to mind.

    “I was told about it about a month ago. I’m super humbled and super honoured. They made the night special.

    “It was super fun to see a lot of old teammates and old coaches. Some of my favourite moments were with the Stars. To be able to celebrate with them again was pretty special.”

    Last season, Clark was on hand when the University of Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey team retired the #10 of Mark Johnson, who was one of their all-time player greats.

    She never imagined that her number with the Stars would be retired less than a year after attending the ceremony to retire Johnson’s number.

Emily Clark watches her number get raised up Merlis Belsher Place.

    In a crazy twist on the Stars front, Clark was actually the last player to wear #13 for her hometown female midget AAA squad. No one from the Stars has worn #13 since Clark last played for the club in the 2011-12 campaign.

    “To think that no one has worn it I guess is pretty special,” said Clark. “With some of the national team players, it is just like a respect thing that you don’t take certain people’s numbers.

    “To know that girls had that kind of respect to hold me in that regard is pretty special.”

    Clark played three seasons for the Stars from 2009 to 2012 appearing in 82 regular season games collecting 45 goals and 46 assists for 91 points.

Emily Clark’s number is raised up at Merlis Belshler Place.

    Her best season came in her final campaign in 2011-12. During that season with the Stars, Clark appeared in 26 regular season game collecting 26 goals and 34 assists for 60 points.

    Clark’s 34 helpers are still a Stars record for most assists in one regular season. Her 60 points is still a team record for most points in one regular season, but it was matched in the 2017-18 campaign by Mackenna Parker, who tallied a club record 33 goals and 27 assists in 23 regular season games.

    Clark said one of the things she loved the most about being part of the Stars was getting to experience the social aspect of the dressing room. Before joining the Stars, Clark played boys hockey in Saskatoon in the Flyers zone.

    When she played boys hockey, Clark, of course, suited up for games on her own in a separate dressing room.

Emily Clark, centre, drops the puck for a ceremonial faceoff.

    “I always loved hockey, but I was missing that part of being a part of the team was that locker room stuff,” said Clark. “When I started to play with the Stars, I fell in love with hockey that much more just because of all the fun I was having with the girls.”

    Clark said the veterans nicknamed her “recess” during her rookie campaign, because she was still in elementary school, while most of the veterans were in high school. During her time with the Stars, Clark skated with a number of teammates who were characters that had character, which helped provide many fun times.

Emily Clark, centre, greets the captains of the Stars and Rebels.

    “I got to play with some amazing people like Marley Ervine, Lauren Zary, Sara Greschner and Brooke Mutch,” said Clark, who helped the Stars advance to the SFMAAAHL championship series in 2010, 2011 and 2012. “For me, I looked up to them, because they were so much older than me.

    “They took me under their wing and took care of me. They shaped a lot of who I was in high school, so I am really grateful for all the girls I got to play with.”

    Following the 2011-12 campaign, Clark left the Stars to join the Okanagan Hockey Academy female prep junior team in Penticton, B.C., for two seasons from 2012 to 2014. In those two campaigns, Clark appeared in 57 games collecting 34 goals and 35 assists for 69 points.

    Clark then joined the storied Badgers women’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks and played four seasons for them spread out from 2014 to 2019.

Emily Clark is pictured with some young fans at Friday’s game.

    She appeared in 147 overall games with the Badgers posting 70 goals and 76 assists for 146 points. Clark helped the Badgers win their fifth NCAA title in team history last season.

    The Badgers blanked the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 2-0 in the NCAA title game last March.

    On the international stage, Clark helped Canada win goal at two straight under-18 women’s championships in 2012 and 2013.

    She suited up for Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team for four women’s world champions winning silver medals in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and a bronze medal this past April in Finland to go with her silver medal from the Winter Olympics.

Arden Kliewer makes one of her 55 saves in goal for the Stars.

    Looking back on her career so far, Clark said there weren’t that any female players from Saskatchewan joining the NCAA ranks, when she joined the Badgers.

    “Playing for Wisconsin was kind of like a dream that I didn’t even know I had once I got down there and got treated the way I did there,” said Clark. “There is nothing like university hockey whether it is (U Sports) or NCAA.

    “Playing on the national team and being able to get in at such a young age is something that is really special to me. Obviously, I am lucky to still be around and still be playing and living my dream.”

    With that said, Clark still plans to be in the game for some time to come.

Lauren Focht netted the equalizer and winner for the Rebels.

    “I still have a lot of story left to be written,” said Clark. “As much as I have been excited about the career I have been able to have, I am excited for the future too.”

    As for Friday’s game itself, Hanna Bailey gave the Rebels 1-0 lead early in the first period, but the Stars exited the opening frame with a 2-1 advantage with goals coming from captain Makena Kushniruk and Anica Gauthier.

    The Stars extended their lead to 3-1, when Kushniruk netted her second of the contest early in the third.

    The Rebels closed the third with three straight goals to post the come-from-behind 4-3 victory. Bailey netted her second of the contest, while Lauren Focht scored the equalizer and winner for the visitors.

Emily Clark, centre, is pictured with some of her old Stars teammates.

    Arden Kliewer turned away 55 shots to take the setback in goal for the Stars (5-10-2). Payton Schlamp stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Rebels (12-0-1).

    The Stars and Rebels go at it again on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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