"It was a little bit of a stinger there."
Battlefords Midget AAA Stars head coach Martin Smith did not watch the Telus Cup championship game that saw the Prince Albert Mintos edge the Grenadiers de Châteauguay 4-3 in a triple-overtime thriller. Smith only found out when he got texts from his players. Instead, he was watching a movie in Saskatoon on a day off from Access Communications.
"I saw the winning goal on the highlights on TSN and it drives me more and more to win now," said Smith of the final.
The Stars had previously swept the Mintos in the semifinals of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs after having a 2-1-1 record against them in the regular season. In his second season during his second stint with the Stars, Smith and his squad missed out on the Western Regional tournament after losing in the league finals three games to one to the Notre Dame Argos.
Smith has grown accustomed to success over the course of his long career in hockey as both a coach and a player. He was born in Edam and started playing hockey at a young age.
"My mom has a picture of me at I think it was nine months old," said Smith. "I had a hockey stick in my hand. On my first birthday, I was in the winter carnival on skates."
Because of the size of Edam, there were not enough kids to ice a team in what would now be the initiation age group. When he was four, Smith was playing with 10-year-olds. Then, when he was 10, he was sneaking out to practise with the senior team.
"That's just what you did," Smith said. "You were on the ice as much as you could be. That was the good thing about growing up in a small town. I had those opportunities. I really owe a lot of my career to those days at the rink."
Smith said it was common for him to be on the ice until 1 a.m. practising shooting. He would also be practising early in the morning into late April as the ice started to melt in the afternoon. During this time, he and his sister Fiona drove to North Battleford to play in the bantam division. At this time, Smith was a defenceman and his sister was usually his defensive partner.
When he was 15, Smith's father, Dr. Ian Smith, moved his practice from Edam to North Battleford. In that year, he made the Midget AAA team as a forward. When Smith turned 16, he played for the Battlefords North Stars. In his first season, 1987-88, he was second in team scoring and made the all-star team.
Following his success in the SJHL, Smith played in the WHL for 60 games over two seasons, spending time with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Saskatoon Blades, Brandon Wheat Kings, Victoria Cougars and Regina Pats.
He returned to the North Stars for the full 1990-91 season, finishing second on the team in scoring again. Smith picked up 31 goals and 62 assists in 68 games. In 1991-92, Smith topped the league in scoring by tallying 51 goals and 85 assists over 64 games. Over the course of his 254-game SJHL career, Smith registered 158 goals and 218 assists. His goals and 376 points are currently tops in the history of the Barons and North Stars franchise.
Smith continued his hockey career by signing with the East Coast Hockey League's Richmond Renegades, an affiliate of the New York Islanders. After his time in the ECHL, Smith received his first coaching opportunity as Barry Belak's assistant coach with the Bantam AA Barons while playing a year of senior hockey.
"It was tough because at I was 22 years old and I was still playing," said Smith of the Barons' job. "You almost want to be out there trying to help."
It was a learning experience that helped build some of Smith's coaching philosophies. The ability to be able to step on the ice and play with his players has helped build a unique relationship.
He then turned his focus overseas. Smith was first approached about playing hockey in England when he was 20, but he kept the offer in his back pocket for a couple of years because he wanted to try to pursue a professional career in North America first. Smith said the hockey world is a small one, and was recommended to the English team by the head coach of the Nipawin Hawks.
It was then Smith decided to pursue his British passport. His father was born in Perth, Scotland and his mother is from Newcastle, England. Smith was able to get his "résumé" in the British Hockey League through Daryl Lipsey from North Battleford.
"He's older than I am," said Smith of Lipsey. "So, he was somebody that was small in stature that I looked up to when I was growing up and watching the Battleford Barons, at that time, or the Beaver Blues."
Smith played for the Storm with Lipsey as the player-assistant coach during Smith's second year in England. Smith said it was "really nice for two North Battleford guys to win the British championship."
The Storm set records in a league in the United Kingdom for attendance when 17,245 spectators came to a game against the Sheffield Steelers in Smith's second season in Manchester. He said the team averaged about 10,000 people, and the nerves stuck around until he got the first shift under his belt.
"They had to delay faceoff time because there was such a lineup at the door," said Smith of the crowds in Manchester. "So then we're starting 15 minutes later. So you're sitting in the dressing room and your nerves are really kicking in."
After playing six seasons in Europe, he returned home to pursue a new career path. Smith attended Western Academy in Saskatoon and graduated with a degree in broadcasting. He started at CJNB. While there, he was able to call North Stars games for the station.
After a year and a half working in the radio business, Smith moved to Access Communications. He was in their programming department filming and hosting television shows. While working in programming, Smith was able to pick what to shoot. He was able to continue to follow hockey by picking SJHL games to air on the station. When the manager at the time retired, Smith was offered the position and has been the manager for the past 10 years.
In 2005, Smith was able to represent his country at the same rink his sister played in during the 1998 Winter Olympics. He played in the Nagano Cup, a three-team tournament made up of a Canadian team, a Russian team and the Japanese Olympic team. The Canadian team was a senior team picked from the Allan Cup, but played as Team Canada.
"No matter what level you're at, whether it's senior or professional, to be able to represent your country was phenomenal. It's just a different feeling all together."
When finished with his work day, Smith continued to look at coaching while playing senior hockey. During this time, he won a championship with the Edam 3 Stars, the team he grew up watching. It was a championship he was the most proud of because all he wanted to do when he was younger was to play for the 3 Stars. Smith said it was "special" to win a championship with the team he grew up watching.
Smith coached spring hockey for a season and then became Dallen Schwab's assistant coach with the AAA Stars. He took over head coaching duties from Schwab before being fired in 2011.
"We didn't have a good season," said Smith of his firing. "I looked at going with a younger team and trying to build it for three years and things didn't work out."
Smith said Ken Pearson, the North Stars' head coach at the time, called him the day Smith was fired. He said Pearson told him he was officially a coach now because he had been fired.
That period with the AAA Stars was tough for Smith and his staff, especially when trying to recruit players. He said his staff would have to "beg players to come" or pick from players who had previously been cut by three or four programs. However, it provided a lesson to Smith that he could pass on to his players. He said that if you don't go through periods of adversity, "you won't know how to react the next time."
After being fired by the Stars, Smith was unsure if he wanted to continue coaching. He did keep playing senior hockey, winning back-to-back SPHL championships in 2012 and 2013.
Smith decided to end his coaching hiatus and took over as the Bantam AA coach with Jody Reiter as his assistant and had a successful season. He said coaching the bantams helped to change his outlook on coaching, in one part due to communication since they had only two practices during the week.
"They were younger," said Smith. "Their focus was on hockey and, at their age, they're not so much into the distractions away from the rink."
When the Midget AAA job came open again for the 2012-13 season, the Stars came and asked Smith to become the head coach again based on the success of the bantam program. Smith took Reiter and manager Shawn Robinson to run the Stars. Smith led a team that won seven games in the previous season to winning 19 for a seventh place finish. The turnaround earned Smith the league's coach of the year award. This past season, the Stars lost only eight games en route to a second place finish in the standings. Smith once again took home coach of the year. He said it was "humbling for a guy that wasn't going to coach again."
During his free time during the off-season, Smith looks to the baseball diamond and the golf course. He has been playing baseball since he was a kid, including a trip to Poland and the Czech Republic in 1991 with the North Battleford Junior Beavers. It was a 16-day trip as the Junior Beavers played six games against the Polish and Czech national teams.
"We took cleats and equipment over there from Baseball Canada," said Smith. "They had pretty good teams. We went 6-0, but it was a good trip. It was a really neat experience."
Smith said it is important to have interests outside of hockey during the off-season. He understands the mentality to start getting ready for next season right away, but believes the body needs time to rest.
"Over the course of 44 regular season games and depending how far you go in the playoffs, that's a pounding your body takes. It needs time to recover."
When he's able to get time away from the office in the off-season, Smith also likes to take his family, wife Sandy and four daughters, up to the lake with their boat.
"That's our family time because I'm pretty busy during the winter."
It's quite a change from spending winter evenings in the rink at practices or playing games. He likes to joke with his daughters when there is a dispute to give him 20 boys anytime.
"Four girls or 20 boys. Sometimes the 20 boys are easier to deal with than the four girls."
