Stevenson Adapting To AHL In Hershey

HERSHEY, Pa. - When the call from Scott Murphy came, Clay Stevenson didn't hesitate.

He packed his things, and with his girlfriend by his side, left Charleston, South Carolina for the 10-plus hour drive to Hershey. Yes, drive!

For some, a flight might have been optimal, but there was a pretty big reason behind the decision for Stevenson, well, two really.

"I was here for about a month or two months (at the end of last season) in the Hershey Lodge without a vehicle, so I mean sometimes you never know what will happen with injuries and whatnot. So I was just a lot more comfortable coming up here for the duration with driving and so it's nice to have a vehicle and someone along with you."

As it turns out, his girlfriend is quite the good luck charm, too, as she was able to be in Giant Center to witness his first AHL victory, was in the North Charleston Coliseum on December 3rd for his first ECHL shutout, a 3-0 victory over the Savannah Ghosts, and was in attendance for his first ECHL start and victory.

However, it was another important female in his life who started Stevenson down this hockey journey.

"Yes, my mom got me into hockey at a pretty young age when I was around, I don't know, just young, five, four or five around there. I started skating and getting into it," Stevenson said.

Growing up in Drayton Valley, outside of Edmonton, of course a young hockey player would be drawn to the Oilers and their history with players like Wayne Gretzky, but for a young Stevenson, it wasn't Gretzky who would become the focus of his idolization.

"I was just watching Dwayne Roloson," Stevenson admitted alluding to the 16-year NHL veteran goaltender who was with the Oilers from 2005-2009. "I just fell in love with the gear and the masks and the position and how the goalies moved."

But Stevenson wasn't a goalie that first year in hockey.

"My mom said, 'You have to be a player first and learn to skate and do all that,'" Stevenson recalled. "So I was a player my first year, but the next year I was kind of split between goalie and player, then my third year I was a goalie and have been one ever since."

Years later his journey took him to Dartmouth, but the COVID pandemic kept him and his teammates from playing his freshman year.

"We didn't play," Stevenson said, explaining. "The Ivy League was the only [collegiate conference] not to play, so finally my first division action was in my sophomore year there, and it was a good year, we were a good team, competitive, we just struggled to find wins."

After that second year, Stevenson was faced with a choice that many would not expect to need to make after just one "real" collegiate season, one that he admitted was very hard to make.

"I got approached by a number of teams halfway through the year, and then the conversations started happening, and it took me probably a good three or four months going back and forth. I would go over the fence one way and then the other. I had spreadsheets of all the pros and cons, but I finally decided on signing with Washington and ultimately leaving school there," Stevenson told InsideAHLHockey.com.

Even though beginning his professional career already turned out to be a terrific decision, "Dartmouth will always hold a special sport in my heart, and I'll eventually finish my degree there; that was a deal with my dad," Stevenson said, noting that he was majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

After this first professional start and victory, finishing that degree might have to wait quite awhile.

"It's a very welcoming program," Stevenson said of the organization and South Carolina in particular. "The coaching staff is very, very good down there and all the players from the veterans down to all the rookies like me, it's a very tight group already I've noticed, and I kind of fit right in right away and was very comfortable around the guys and everything and we've been kinda rolling a little bit down there just as Hershey has been up here, so it's been a it's been a good first introduction into professional hockey thus far," he continued.

Another location that's been good to him is Hershey and the time he's getting to spend with Zach Fucale.

"He's been a very good role model for me," Stevenson said of Fucale. "I think he's a great guy and with goaltending partners, it's an interesting dynamic because the only way you're ever going to succeed is by building each other up and being happy for one another achieving those milestones. Because I'm sure he can remember his first AHL win and what that feels like and so what it's like to be in my shoes there."

As for evaluating himself in his first start, well, this is an Ivy League athlete after all.

"The game in the AHL is a little more structured, I find, so the game can be a little bit more predictable, but the execution is a lot faster, which entices a goalie to be a little bit more sharper. So um, yeah, I think overall, it was just a clean performance by myself. I didn't do anything too crazy or anything. I thought the team played really well in front of me and that I made the saves we needed to win the game and I think from a goaltending standpoint, that's all you really can try to do every night," Stevenson explained.

While it's been quite the wild ride for the rookie, he's thankful to the Capitals for the time they've already devoted to his development, noting that the goaltending coaches from Washington to Hershey and South Carolina have been fabulous, even when things might not be going quite to plan for his rookie season.

"I mean, I started the year with surgery on my hand, but I've just been playing so long you hit the ground running and keep a present mind," Stevenson told InsideAHLHockey.com.

With that mentality, it's easy to see why Stevenson has slipped seamlessly into his role in South Carolina and in Hershey as well.