Wild's Brock Faber can go from Clark Kent to Superman in a hurry

Wild

Wild's Brock Faber can turn from Clark Kent to Superman in a hurry The bespectacled young defenseman had a standout rookie season, despite playing the final two months with painful broken ribs.

The Minnesota Star Tribune October 7, 2024 at 5:00PMBrock Faber will not be a stranger to the bright lights of the NHL this season. The second-year Wild defenseman took his turn in the portrait booth at the team's media day last month. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune) The Clark Kent to Superman switcheroo was all the rage over the summer, with memes and viral videos, when gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik shed his docile demeanor to become a pommel horse phenom at the Paris Olympics.

Nedoroscik won bronze with Team USA and for the individual event horse – all after dramatically taking off his glasses.

If the transformation felt familiar to Minnesotans, it should.

Brock Faber has been doing it for years.

"He does it [on] it seems a little higher of a stage than myself," said the near-sighted Wild defenseman, who uses contacts when he's on the ice, working out or playing softball in the summer.

Otherwise, Faber wears glasses and has been since he was in elementary school.

His parents suggested he adopt contacts for hockey games after Faber whiffed on an empty-netter.

"I probably just missed the open net and blamed it on my eyes," Faber said.

He has contact cases stashed at Xcel Energy Center and the Wild's practice arena, and the team's athletic trainer holds onto an extra supply of lenses.

Although the concept of beaming a laser into his eye scares him, Faber is open to LASIK.

For now, though, his glasses are his signature, just like his impressive rookie season and subsequent lucrative contract extension.

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Wild owner Leipold expects a playoff berth before Parise, Suter buyout relief arrives Clark Kent, er, Wild defenseman Brock Faber at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas in June. (L.E. Baskow/The Associated Press) What else will Faber be known for?

How he follows up a smooth start to his NHL career, an encore that begins Thursday when the Wild face off against Columbus.

"I'm confident in myself," Faber said, "and the person I am and the player I can be one day."

What is different, though, is how much more recognizable he is.

But that hasn't fazed Faber.

"We'll be out at a restaurant or something and someone will come up and ask for a picture," said Tyler Oakland, who became friends with Faber after they met playing hockey when they were 8 years old. "Never seen him say, 'No.' He's always super happy to do that."

As Karri pointed out, "He was that little kid not that long ago."

Eyes on the prize Only 22, Faber should evolve as a hockey player, and he knows exactly how he'd like to grow his game.

He's striving to live up to the namesake of his position and be better defensively, including on the PK, vs. the best players.

And Faber can do that by using his feet to encroach on opponents and siphon off their time and space to handle the puck.

"He's just so explosive," Middleton said. "He's like a running back on skates, just how quick he is to close and get to pucks and make reads."

While he doesn't focus on point production, Faber believes he can continue to develop his offensive skills, and he'll get the opportunity to do so; he'll once again be running the point on the power play where he'll be tasked with distributing passes and capitalizing on open shooting lanes — determining on the fly what option makes the most sense.

If he accomplishes all that, Faber should have no problem avoiding the notorious sophomore slump.

But what will be an ideal season in Faber's eyes?

He can already see it.

about the writer Sarah McLellan Minnesota Wild and NHLSarah McLellan covers the Wild and NHL. Before joining the Star Tribune in November 2017, she spent five years covering the Coyotes for The Arizona Republic.

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