Clarksville sculptor creating Pekka Rinne statue

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Soon you will see former Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne every night at Nashville hockey games, even though he is retired.

The Pekka Project is five months from completion.

Clarksville’s Scott Wise is a big Predators fan. He thinks clumps of clay perfectly placed will prove that.

The Predators commissioned him to make a statue of Rinne to stand on the plaza outside Bridgestone Arena.

“For it to be exactly what the Preds would want and what I would want,” Wise said.

Wise has been a fireman for 25 years. He works 24 hours and is off for 48 hours, so sculpting is his free time.

He got so good when the Predators went looking for someone to create the Rinne statue, they found him.

“Having that texture on there...it will make it pop and once it is in bronze it’ll pop from every direction,” Wise said.

Rinne came to Clarksville a few months ago and stood still for an hour. Wise shot snapshots at him – the camera kind. Now he’s carving the camera kind into clay.

“Pekka has done so much for the community and for this organization,” Wise said. “To me he’s hall of fame but I’m not the one who decides that sort of thing so.”

For Rinne, the hall of fame could still be in the future, but the statue is an honor for sure.

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