Brooks Clark is a Junior on the Penn Kingsmen Varsity Hockey team.
What are your goals for this season?: This season a personal goal is to put a lot of points on the board, but as a team I’d like to win the city tournament and compete for a state championship.
What’s your favorite part of the hockey team?: My favorite part of the team is just hanging with the boys. Trips when we stay in hotels are definitely a good time and I hang out with lots of them outside of hockey.
How did you first get interested in playing hockey?: I first got interested in playing hockey when I was around four years old and my older brother decided that he wanted to play and I thought it was cool.
What do you consider to be your biggest strengths on the ice?: I don’t really think I have a lot of specific strengths that really stick out more than others on the ice. I like to think I have a pretty solid game all around but I’m definitely better and more skilled on the offensive end.
How do you prepare for a game both mentally and physically?: Mentally I like to just listen to music on the way to the rink and pop in the AirPods once I’m there until it’s game time. Physically I try to eat decently on game days and the boys get a good stretch in before gearing up.
What is your favorite hockey memory so far?: My favorite hockey memory so far has to be beating St. Joe in the City championship my freshman year.
How do you balance academics and athletics during the season?: It’s not too hard really. We only practice Tuesdays and Thursdays and even on the days we have practice I have time after school before practice if I need to get some work done.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a hockey player and how did you overcome it?: The biggest challenge I’ve faced as a hockey player was probably getting cut from my AAA team when I was like 13, but it ended up being one of the best things that happened to me as I picked up lacrosse as a result of having more time and now that is something I focus on.
Who is your biggest inspiration or role model in hockey?: My biggest inspiration when I was a kid was Crosby. I loved watching Penguins games and him in particular playing. Nowadays I don’t really pay much attention to the NHL.
Who are you most excited to play this year?: I’m most excited to play St. Joe as usual this year. In the past couple years we’ve been losing the close games with them, but this year I feel that we should be able to win those games and those games always seem to be the most electric.
