Ben Andrew Clymer (born April 11, 1978) is an American former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

who played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

with the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. The Lightning compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the ...

and

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The Capitals compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NH ...

. He also played college hockey at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Playing career

Clymer was drafted 27th overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

. He attended and played hockey for Bloomington Jefferson High School and the

. Clymer left school in 1998 to take advantage of a loophole in the NHL CBA which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent if he was to play one year in the WHL. In this pursuit he joined the

Seattle Thunderbirds The Seattle Thunderbirds are a major junior ice hockey team based in the city of Kent, Washington. They are part of the U.S. Division of the Western Conference in the Western Hockey League. Founded in 1971 as the Vancouver Nats, the team arrive ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

in 1998–1999 in played 70 games posting 56 points. Clymer made his

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

debut with the

the following season (1999), and was part of the 2004

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

Championship team. During the NHL lockout, Clymer played with Swiss team

EHC Biel EHC Biel-Bienne is a professional ice hockey club based in the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland and plays in the National League (NL). Since the city of Biel is completely bilingual, alongside the German name EHC Biel (Abbr: EHCB) the te ...

in the second Swiss division. After the lockout, Clymer returned to the NHL, signing a one-year contract with the

on August 8, 2005. The following year he was re-signed to a three-year contract, however spent the final year of his contract in the AHL with the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Bears have played in the American Hockey League (AHL) since the 1938–39 season, making it the longest continuously operating member club of the league still ...

. For the 2008–09 season, Clymer left the NHL and signed with the Minsk of the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

. That season Clymer was named an All-Star and played in the KHL's All-Star game outdoor in Moscow's Red Square. Clymer scored a goal and was a member of the victorious "Team Jagr". Following that season Clymer signed a one-year contract with ERC Ingolstadt. An integral part of Ingolstadt's defense during the 2009–10 season, Clymer scored 32 points in 37 games before he was again on the move within Europe, signing with HC Lugano of the Swiss Nationalliga A. Clymer, failed to appear for Lugano in a NLA after suffering a season ending knee injury in training camp. He then returned to Ingolstadt on a one-year contract on May 14, 2011. However, unable to satisfactorily recover from his lingering knee injury, Clymer announced his retirement just over a month later on June 30, 2011.

Post career

Following Clymer's retirement, Clymer enrolled back at the University of Minnesota, and was admitted to the

Carlson School of Management The Curtis L. Carlson School of Management is the business school of the University of Minnesota, a public research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Carlson School offers undergraduate and graduate degr ...

where he received a degree in Finance. During his retirement Clymer also broke into the broadcast world. In 2009 Clymer was hired by Channel 45 to cover the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Clymer has continued to annually cover the State High School Tournament for Channel 45 and has also been hired by Fox Sports North to cover Minnesota Golden Gopher and Minnesota Wild games. On September 16, 2013 it was announced that Clymer had joined the

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of College athletics, collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news ...

as a college hockey analyst.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

Personal life

Clymer has a degree in Finance. He is married.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clymer, Ben 1978 births American men's ice hockey defensemen Boston Bruins draft picks EHC Biel players HC Dinamo Minsk players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey players from Minnesota Ice hockey people from Bloomington, Minnesota ERC Ingolstadt players Living people Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Rochester Mustangs players Seattle Thunderbirds players Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning players Washington Capitals players