Funny enough, one of Clarke's future teammates in LA, Quinton Byfield, wears No. 55 precisely because of Gonchar. Early into his hockey career, Byfield started out as a defenceman and donned the number because of Gonchar. Even as he moved from the blue line to centre, he kept it, an ode to one of his first hockey idols.
While Gonchar may not have influenced Clarke's jersey number selection, he certainly impacted his style of play. Although Clarke is a coveted right-shot defenceman, you can see elements of Gonchar's game in how Clarke quarterbacks the power play in Barrie and racks up assists. In the 2003-04 NHL season, Gonchar recorded 47 assists and 58 points, the most among defenceman that season.
This year in the Ontario Hockey League, Clarke leads all defenceman in assists and points with 42 and 52 respectively, and there are currently only six players across the entire league who have more assists than him. Don't get him wrong, Clarke likes scoring goals, but he particularly enjoys being able to set up his teammates.
"We have some good finishers on this team and if I can put it in their hands in good spots to get good quality chances, it makes me feel good," he said. "When we're sharing the love around and we're getting a lot of goals from different goal scorers it's a good feeling."
But Clarke knows that offense is just one part of his game. Since getting drafted by the Kings last year, he has continued to work on his game to become the type of two-way defenceman he knows he needs to become in order to make the jump to the NHL.
Although a bout of mononucleosis kept Clarke from attending the Kings' main camp this past fall, he has stayed in steady contact with the organization throughout the season as he continues to work on his play on both sides of the puck.
"They watch my games all the time and tell me the areas they want me to work on," he said.
"They just want me to keep rounding out my two-way game. They see a lot of promise there and that I've already made strides in that development. Something they've really been proud of me in the growth of my game is in the defensive zone."
Although the Kings want to see Clarke make those improvements to his game, he says that the organization also doesn't want him to lose the offensive edge that makes him such a dynamic player.
"They're not trying to rein me in but to be wise and capitalize when I can, but don't do anything to cause odd man rushes the other way," he said.
But Clarke knows that if he wants to become a strong two-way defenceman in the NHL, he still has a ways to go. "I love the challenge and I'm looking forward to hopefully accomplishing that one day" he added.
Clarke has certainly responded well to challenges this year. Despite being left off of Canada's World Junior selection camp roster, a decision that came as a shock to much of the hockey world, the young defenseman has been able to use that omission to continue to fuel his development.
"I thought I was playing and progressing well, but the higher ups didn't give me the call and that's okay," he said.
"I just want to keep proving that I'm one of the top prospects in the world and that's not going to affect me. It was definitely a bitter feel, but I took strides in the right direction so I'm still happy where I am mentally, and it didn't affect me too much in my play has even risen so I'm really happy with how I bounced back from that. I'm not going to let off ice stuff get in the way of my progression with the Barrie Colts and hopefully the LA Kings one day."
Although Brandt hopes to crack the Kings roster sooner than later, for now he knows he just needs to stay the course and keep playing his game.
