What has changed for Damian Clara

At the end of June, Clara made history in Nashville. The 18-year-old has now realized how important the draft is. “The standards and expectations have increased. Every day I became more aware that the challenge is even greater. In the last few weeks I haven't trained any more than before, but went to the training pitch with additional motivation," explains the Pusterer, who recently - as usual - worked hard off the ice together with fitness trainer René Baur.

Clara was on the ice for 5 days in Anaheim a few days after the draft. “The training camp was something special. There were fitness tests on the first day and ice tests on the second day. There was team training on the third and fourth days, and a 1-on-2 game on the fifth day,” the 3-meter giant enthuses. He flew from Munich directly to Los Angeles, where he was picked up at the airport and taken to the home, 4 minutes away.

Damian Clara has had her driving license since yesterday.

There Clara not only had a reunion with the former Salzburg coach Matt McIlvane, who now works as a coach for Anaheim's fern team San Diego Gulls in the AHL, but also with the Swiss Rodwin Dionicio, who he met a few years ago in Ambri summer camp had come across.

A total of 17.000 prospects were on the ice at the NHL club's training center, which is half an hour's drive from the 28-seater Honda Center (Clara: "A huge, impressive arena"); 26 of them were drafted, 2 were allowed to join as free agents. In addition to the training, there was also time for a workshop in which the reaction of the eyes was examined in great detail, for a meal with the club owners and for numerous conversations in order to get to know each other better.

Clara sees the draft as just a stopover in his career. After all, “not much has changed for me personally. I'm proud that I was able to convince a club from the best league in the world to join me and I think it's cool that Anaheim chose me. Since then, media interest has increased; there were also inquiries from North American media. And sometimes people on the street turned around and spoke to me too. But it wasn’t anything special.”

The “Ice Age” begins at Brynäs on Monday There is no time for Clara to rest on her laurels. The national goalkeeper is moving from Italy to Sweden this weekend. Next Monday, July 31st, he will begin preparations with Brynäs IF for the Allsvenskan season starting on September 22nd, in which there are 14 teams and a double round-trip in the regular season. At the start on September 22nd, Brynäs has a home game against AIK Stockholm on the program.

<a data-caption="Beim Trainingscamp in Anaheim übte Damian Clara mit dem früheren Linzer Goalie Jeff Glass (links), der jetzt Torhütertrainer bei den San Diego Gulls, dem Farmteam der Ducks, in der AHL ist." data-fancybox="inline-167773" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2023/07/beim-trainingscamp-in-anaheim-uebte-damian-clara-mit-dem-frueheren-linzer-goalie-jeff-glass-links-der-jetzt-torhuetertrainer-bei-den-san-diego-gulls.jpg"> At the training camp in Anaheim, Damian Clara practiced with former Linz goalie Jeff Glass (left), who is now the goalkeeper coach for the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks' farm team in the AHL.

Clara was loaned to the second division club by the SHL club Färjestad, where he still has two years left on his contract. “Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek asked me if I would like to move to a North American junior league. In consultation with the goalkeeping coach, who has the final decision, we came to the conclusion that it would be better for me to play at senior level. “I can certainly imagine that I will stay in Sweden until the end of my contract in spring 2 and that the NHL could only become an issue after that,” explains the talented goalkeeper.

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What has changed for Damian Clara

Yesterday Damian Clara passed the driving test. The goalkeeper passed the biggest test in ice hockey four weeks ago. On June 4, he was drafted by the NHL club Anaheim Ducks in the second round with number 29. Read here how his life has changed since then.

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