Ben Clymer discusses growing up in Bloomington, playing for good and bad coaches, the WHL, the KHL, the Wild

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By Mick Hatten and Jess Myers

February 24, 2023 at 2:02 PM

Ben Clymer grew up in Bloomington and ended up playing on a state championship team as a sophomore for Jefferson High School in 1994. Clymer ended up playing for Team USA in two IIHF World Junior Championships and played in the NCAA Division I tournament for the University of Minnesota in 1997. He was taken in the second round of the 1997 NHL Draft, ended up having shoulder surgery and missing the 1997-98 season. He left college and played one season in the WHL for the Seattle Thunderbirds before signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played for the Lightning from 1999-2004. From 2007-10, he finished his playing career overseas, including one season for Dynamo Minsk in the KHL in Russia.

Clymber is now an analyst for Minnesota Wild and the Univeristy of Minnesota hockey games on Bally Sports North, the Big Ten Network and ESPN. He is also a squirt youth hockey coach. Clymer talks about the many roads he's traveled because of hockey on The Rink Live podcast with Jess Myers and Mick Hatten.

TIME STAMPS

2:00 His experience being a hockey coach for his youth squirt team in Fargo, pin trading

3:40 The balance with his full-time job, being an analyst for Wild, Gophers games and being a youth hockey coach

5:00 Growing up in Bloomington in the 1980s, playing in Kennedy program, moved to Jefferson, the number of great players he played with

8:00 How he ended up playing defense for Jefferson as a sophomore, being a teammate of Mike Crowley

9:30 What are things he remembers about Tom Saterdalen as a coach

12:00 1995 state tournament, Dave Spehar and Duluth East, Chris Locker being underrated

13:50 Working with Mark Parrish, who was a high school teammate, the difference between kids when he grew up and now

16:00 His one season playing for the University of Minnesota, why he ended up leaving, this season's Gophers team, playing in the WHL

20:15 The differences between college hockey and the WHL when he was there

22:15 What it was like playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 1999-2004, the coaches, playing for John Tortorella

26:00 What it was like playing in the KHL for Dynamo Minsk in Russia and coach Jim Hughes, not understanding his Russian coach who replaced Hughes

29:30 What are the Wild going to do at the trade deadline? Trade philosophies, his favorite nickname in the NHL

34:30 Marc-Andre Fleury vs. Filip Gustavsson in goal for the Wild, should the Wild trade Fleury

37:00 Ohio State men's coach Steve Rohlik, the talent on this season's Gophers team

By Mick Hatten

Mick Hatten is a reporter and editor for Forum News Service and helps manage TheRinkLive.com, a website dedicated to hockey. He began working for Forum Communications in November 2018 and has covered St. Cloud State University hockey since 2010. A graduate of St. Cloud State, he has more than 30 years of experience as a journalist and has been a youth hockey coach since 2014. mhatten@forumcomm.com

For more coverage of St. Cloud and the surrounding communities, check out St. Cloud Live.

Ben Clymer discusses growing up in Bloomington, playing for good and bad coaches, the WHL, the KHL, the Wild

Former Bloomington Jefferson High School standout is now an analyst for Minnesota Wild and University of Minnesota games. A fun talk about many colorful stops along the way in his playing career.