Along the path of Nick Rimando’s 17-year MLS journey, he has surpassed many milestones along the way. And while he will never forget his record-breaking shutout of D.C. United to surpass Kevin Hartman’s all-time league mark for clean sheets in 2014, he doesn’t recall anything about any of the landmarks he hit along the way.
On Saturday, Rimando will become just the second player in MLS history – joining Hartman – to play in 400 career MLS regular season matches when RSL faces the LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center. If the benchmark match couldn’t be at Rio Tinto Stadium, where he has earned so many plaudits in his 10 seasons with the Claret-and-Cobalt, he is happy that it can come in southern California, near where he grew up in Montclair.
“The only one I remember is my first start against Tampa Bay and my mom calling me and telling me I can retire now. 400 games later, it feels good,” he said this week. I feel great and it’s something I never thought I’d get to, but during the years through hard work I knew it was possible and now it’s here.”
The statistical highlights that tend to draw attention late in a player’s career have never much interested Rimando. But he admitted that once he got close to the all-time shutout record he realized that he had an opportunity to reach the tops of all of the all-time leaderboards in MLS history. Then, he started paying closer attention to some of those marks.
“I don’t go out there to play for stats or records, I go out there to win,” said Rimando, who also has two MLS Cup titles to his credit. “Knowing that they’re so close, I think my body feeling good and me still having passion for this game, that they’re right there to take. They’re there and I know that they’re within reach and if I continue to do what I’m doing to get to my 400th, I can get to these goals too.”
Rimando is just 17 matches from equaling Hartman’s all-time mark for games played (416), 12 away from his starts record (411) and five wins from the all-time victory record (180). All of those could conceivably come this season, making 2016 a special season for the 36-year-old Rimando.
“I want to reach these records. They’re so close. I have a lot of confidence in myself and my body feels great, so why not go for those?” he said. “I want to achieve as many as I can before I’m done and I don’t see that day coming any day soon.”
In addition to his career marks that have drawn attention, there is another that is a testament to his consistently high level of play. In the league’s history, only three players have played in over 200 matches while starting in each of his appearances. Pat Onstad started all 223 of his career matches. Tony Meola started all 250 of his. And Rimando has long since passed those marks with 399 starts without a substitute appearance.
Now, with friends and family in attendance, he will enter a new pantheon among the greats in the league’s history, pulling ever closer to Kevin Hartman’s all-time records in his own back yard. To Rimando, maintaining Real Salt Lake’s unbeaten run to start the 2016 season is just as important.
“It’s always special to play there,” Rimando said. “A lot of my friends and family are going to be there, but we want to win and keep us striving forward and not take a step back.”
