Former King Noah Clarke is enjoying Swiss hockey
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We don’t get too many European hockey updates on the blog, but then again, there aren’t that many Southern Californians playing on the other side of the pond.
You remember Noah Clarke?
The former Kings forward, who grew up in La Verne, has been getting a little bit of an education playing for HC Ambri-Piotta in the Swiss National A League.
While the 29-year-old is still coming to grips with the “wide-open style” of the international game, the biggest changes for Clarke have been mostly cultural. For instance, he never saw anyone at Staples Center waving flags with Che Guevara’s image on them.
“The fans here are the craziest and wildest I’ve ever seen,” Clarke said in a telephone interview this week. “The first time I saw them waving a Che flag I was like, ‘What the heck?’ You don’t see anything like that in America.’
HC Ambri-Piotta’s apparent leftist leanings notwithstanding, Clarke’s decision to go to Europe had little to do with rebellion or proving to all his friends he was macho enough to play in a partially open-air arena in the middle of an Alpine winter.
After spending most of last year with New Jersey Devils’ AHL affiliate, Clarke decided to ditch the Lowell Devils for the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland.
“A lot of people back home worried when I decided to come here,” said Clarke, who has six points through 11 games. “They thought I was giving up the game, but I haven’t given up anything. I’m just doing something different.’
Clarke is part of an growing wave of ex-NHLers who have joined European leagues in the post-lockout era. Shorter seasons, the absence of salary cap-related restrictions and a less clutch-and-grab style of play has attracted many players. And those were reasons enough for the Manhattan Beach resident to leave North America over the summer.
‘I see myself staying here for a while,’ Clarke said.
And here’s a quick video clip of some of the crazy HC Ambri-Piotta fans Clarke gets to play in front of every home game:
-- Top photo: Clarke is shown playing in his second game for the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 18, 2003. Clarke played in 20 games with the Kings. Credit: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times.
-- Mug shot courtesy of http://www.hockeyclubambripiotta.ch/it