Afterbrspending most of his life playing the sport he loves, Southlake native A.J.brSmith embarked on a journey to continue playing hockey. Now with some club experience underbrhis belt, the 20-year-old will enjoy his summer before heading off to Wisconsinbrto play at Northland College, an environmental liberal arts college founded inbr1892 and located in Ashland. This isn't Smith's first stint in The BadgerbrState, though.
Smith,bra goalie, helped the Dragon hockey team win its first state championship inbreight years when he was a freshman.
“Thatbrwas pretty big,” said the starter. The Dragons lost in the finals the followingbryear, but still went on to national competition, where they finished secondbroverall. “I didn't play junior year, but played 18U Triple A for the Dallas IcebrJets. I was starting to get looks to play junior hockey there. It was prettybrexciting, but interesting moving away from home possibly.”
Seniorbryear, Smith played high school to finish off what he started, but the teambrdidn't have the season he hoped for, operating under a new head coach with abryoung team. With the sport not recognized as a varsity team in the district, it can bebrdifficult to recruit.
“It'sbrkind of weird; it's hard too because you're competing with the football team,”brSmith said. “It's a huge thing here, really good too. It's hard to get peoplebrwrapped around hockey but I feel like it was a lot of fun though. You startbrgetting people out to the games, and they slowly start getting into it.”
Nextbryear, he moved on to Wisconsin and played for the Central Wisconsin Saints asbrthe starting goalie. When it was all said and done, the Saints were knocked out of the playoffs.
“It wasbra learning experience,” he recalled. “Living away from home my first year wasbrpretty exciting.”
Then,brlast year, Smith had to have shoulder surgery, which he admits he put off forbrfar too long. He wasn't sure where his career stood at the time, but then hebrgot a call from head coach Nathan Hewitt, who asked him to come to Ontario.
So,brSmith ventured to a small town in Canada called Elliot Lake to play for the Wildcats.brIn his time there, he was named MVP, second-team all-star, and won goalie ofbrthe year.
“A.J. was an excellent goaltender for us,”brHewitt said. “He's a goalie who battles hard all of the time. That'sbrmy kind of guy. He was also very well liked by his teammates. Northland Collegebris lucky to have him, for sure, and I know he's really looking forward to thatbropportunity.”
The City of Elliot Lake, with a currentbrpopulation of 11,500, was established in 1954 as a mining centre. In fact, ElliotbrLake was once known as the “uranium capital of the world.”
TodaybrElliot Lake is one of the most popular retirement communities in thebrprovince. Nestled in beautiful northernbrOntario, the City of Elliot Lake appeals to outdoor enthusiasts, seeking leisurebrand a slower pace of life. Itsbrsmall-town charm and big-city amenities are a big part of what attractsbrretirees as well. Regardless of whatbrattracts them, they all find huge savings by retiring in Elliot Lake, allowingbrthem to do as they wish in their retirement.
“InbrSouthlake, there aren't many fans of hockey,” Smith explained. “It's not reallybrbloomed here yet. I'd say living in different areas, like in Elliot Lake,breveryone in town knew who you were. Everyone there is very adamant about hockey.brThey just loved it. They loved having hockey there and it's kind of like beingbra star almost.”
Smithbrwas certainly a star, starting in 34 games with a 20-9-2 record and playing abrtotal of 1,955 minutes. He saved 967 shots out of 1,057 taken on goal. His savebrpercentage was 91.5 percent. He registered three shutouts.
“It wasbrawesome playing with 20 guys and that's all you do is just play hockey,” hebrsaid of his time in Elliot Lake. “It was awesome. That's all I can really saybrabout that. Everyone was playing so wellbrin front of me so I just helped them out.”
Smithbris obviously fully recovered and ready to head back to Wisconsin in earlybrAugust. He'll be missed in Elliot Lake.
“We were verybrhappy to have had A.J. come to our community,” said Wildcats general managerbrTodd Stencil. “He was a great goalie but more important a great person.”
Smith chose the Division III school for a pre-med major, where he can pursue a careerbrin either pharmaceuticals or physical therapy. Head coach Seamus Gregory entersbrhis second year. He also has two senior goalies to handle in 2015-16.
WithbrSmith entering his freshman year, Gregory explained he would be given everybropportunity to succeed and be a part of something special to turn the teambraround. The hope is to get the community involved in the organization oncebragain.
“I wasbrexcited about that and it seemed like a great opportunity,” Smith said. As forbrthe future, hockey may remain a part of his life, but he'll just have to waitbrand see. “There's a lot of professional leagues in North America and Europe. There'sbropportunity for me after college. I have everything planned out. I'm going tobrstay on top of everything. I want to play a lot of games, win at least 5-10brgames, get into the playoffs and see what we can do from there.”
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