NOTE: A Special Thanks to Leo Goldman (ABC/FOX Montana Sports Reporter) for doing the Americans story and for providing the video.
By Leo Goldman, ABC/FOX Montana Sports Reporter
November 20, 2019
The Great Falls Ice Plex isn’t where you’ll find many high school students at 10 am on a Monday, but Clay Walker isn’t your average high school student.
“He’ll be our youngest guy, so just a hard worker. A good kid, a Great Falls product and it’s important for us to have a local kid. Nobody works harder than him.” Said Americans head coach Greg Sears.
Clay walker is a sophomore at CMR High School, and while he dons the jersey of the Americans, he doesn’t play fully for them, at least not yet.
For now, Clay is mostly a practice player with a couple games under his belt. But according to Sears, you’ll more than likely see Clay in an Americans uniform full time during games sooner rather than later.
“We hope to get him in our program in the future, we got him in a game on Friday night and he did a real nice job.” said Sears.
For now, Clay’s dedication lies in helping his team in any way he can. But there’s one place where it doesn’t matter if he is a practice player or the team captain, and that’s at sled hockey.
“Watching all the smiles on their faces, they’re having fun just like we have fun out here,” said Clay Walker.
So, what exactly is sled hockey? Clay explains:
“People are on sleds and they have two sticks, it’s cut half of [my hockey stick], and it has spikes on the end so they can move. It’s for people who can’t skate normally so they have an opportunity. It gives you a good feeling, makes you feel like you did something good. Not only for yourself but for other people.”
His dedication to the game of hockey and helping others play makes him this week’s Student of the Week.
Story Courtesy: ABC/FOX Montana (KFBB): Mattress Firm Student of the Week: CMR’s Clay Walker (GF Americans) (November 20, 2019)