The Toronto Maple Leafs’ most celebrated off-season acquisition had an important decision to make: Pick a number, and make it a lucky one.
The No. 23 jersey right wing David Clarkson wore for seven seasons in New Jersey was occupied by defenceman Ryan O’Byrne. And the No. 17 sweater he wore for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, the number on his back when he won the Memorial Cup in 2003? Well, that’s too sacred. It belongs to He Who Shall Not Be Named.
So Clarkson selected No. 71, the inverse of Leafs legend Wendel Clark’s 17, a number still sported by dozens of fans at current games. Most assumed Clarkson’s choice was a sly nod to Clark, another gritty forward equally adept at dropping gloves and lighting lamps.
But Clarkson’s new number has nothing to do with Clark, the Toronto native explains, without mentioning his childhood hero by name. He and 71 have a history.
“I grew up playing my whole career in Kitchener wearing 17. Obviously, I would never do that here. I also wore 71 playing ball hockey and as a kid. I love the number seven. There were certain numbers that were available and not available, and 71 was something I’d had before. Everybody asks, ‘Is it the reverse of…?’ And it’s not. This is a number I’m going to have for seven years, and that’s a number I’ve had in the past.
“Seventy-one is something I want to be,” Clarkson explains. “I’ve always liked seven. People say that seven’s lucky, and I’m a very superstitious person.”
Clarkson’s superstitious nature takes over on game days. The time he eats, when he naps, when he gets on and off the ice at the morning skate, the order in which he gets ready for puck drop. It’s always the same. How he tapes and treats his sticks is a big one.
“I think most athletes are like that,” Clarkson says. “I do a lot of switching things up. There’s little things I like to do to prepare. I have a routine every night.”
And he sticks to it. Unless, of course, the goals dry up.
“Then you switch everything up,” he says.
Look at Clarkson’s game log from 2012-13. In total, he scored 15 goals and nine assists, but those points came in clusters. After his hot start to the shortened season, Clarkson endured a goal-free drought of 13 games and a separate 11-game span in which he scored just once. During the Devils’ run to Cup final in 2012, he couldn’t find the net for the first eight playoffs games or the final 10. The end result? Clarkson shaved off his playoff beard before the Devils were eliminated. If the routine is failing you, switch it up – hockey tradition be damned.
Still, Clarkson doesn’t see himself as a streaky player; rather, hockey is a streaky game.
“Look at baseball, look at hockey. If everyone was scoring every night, you’d have 80- or 90-goal seasons. Fans sometimes look (disapprovingly) at, ‘Oh, he hasn’t scored in this many games!’ But in all sports, you have games where it’s coming and games where it’s not going in for you. That doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything. As an athlete, you need to understand that and keep pushing through the good and the bad streaks.”
Plus, it doesn’t hurt if you have a lucky number on your back giving you a nudge.
