May 22, 2009

By Cameron Eickmeyer
USAHockey.com

Jack Campbell's focus has earned him accolades from his coaches, but even the poised 17-year-old turned his mind away from the game for a moment before taking the ice in the third period down 1-0 to Canada in the semifinals of the 2009 IIHF World Under-18 Championship.

Campbell makes a save against Russia.

Favorite usahockeygoaltending.com drills: Stick and Pad Control Middle Out Chest Saves | Video More Drills "Those are big skills that really take you a long way in the game ... If you can master that, you're going to be a good goaltender." - Jack Campbell, World Champion goalie

"When we came out the fans were just screaming 'USA' at the top of their lungs," Campbell said of the crowd in Fargo, N.D. "When you're tired and you're fatigued and don't have anything left and you hear that, you just forget about anything and realize that there's just one thing that's going to happen; you're going to win the hockey game."

Campbell quickly turned his focus on the game and shut Canada down as his teammates scored two goals to propel Team USA to the win. Campbell was even more impressive in a 5-0 shutout victory against Russia that clinched the gold medal.

"I've always heard about how talented they (Russia) were and how good of a hockey country they were," Campbell said. "When I finally got the chance I wanted to make sure that we not only made the most of it, but also that we didn't let them take the gold medal in our own country."

Campbell finished the tournament with the best save percentage (96.74), goals against average (0.75) and just three goals against overall and no even strength tallies.

The attitude and focus to shut opponents down and even completely off the scoreboard is something Campbell's coaches at the U.S. National Team Development Program have noticed on and off the ice.

"His demeanor and how he carries himself in practice and off the ice says a lot about how he plays the game when he gets on the ice," said Ron Rolston, who coached Campbell on the gold-medal winning team. "He just showed a lot of poise, especially in those big games with big crowds against excellent opponents."

NTDP goalie coach Joe Exter put Campbell and the rest of the program's goalies through intense practices and game situations, which gave Campbell the confidence to face the world's elite players.

"He went in to games knowing that he'd prepared harder than anyone else," Exter said. "In that last four months he did a really good job continuing to work and develop his physical skills, but his mental focus took the next step."

Exter said the focus on each play helps Campbell keep his composure no matter the score and puts him in position to succeed.

"Whistle to whistle, shot to shot, he was focused on the task at hand and not what it could lead to," Exter added.

Campbell said the work he put in all season with the NTDP gave him confidence that he would be ready for the world championship.

"Going into the tournament, I was ready to succeed if it was my time and as it turned out I had to play a pretty big role in the tournament," Campbell said.

Campbell's number was called despite being a year younger than most of his teammates simply because his maturity and poise showed Exter and Rolston he was ready.

Rolston said that poise helped keep the U.S. close or in the lead in several key moments and also gave the skaters confidence.

"In the early part of the game I think Canada was coming at us pretty strong and he made some huge saves that I think really settled us down," Rolston said.

Rolston, who coached the NTDP Under-18 team this season, said Campbell helped build confidence earlier in the season when he was called up from the NTDP Under-17 team from time to time.

"Our guys knew they were going to get strong goaltending and that gave them some added confidence up front," Rolston added.