The Inferno Speaks to Sam Smith

Sam Smith started playing hockey within Devils' junior development system at the age of 11 and had a spell playing for the English Premier League Swindon Wildcats at the age of 15. He moved to North America to play hockey, playing in Okanagon, British Columbia, Canada for two years and then moving to the  Dubuque Thunderbirds in Iowa, USA.

Sam returned to the UK and Joined the Elite league Cardiff devils for the 2010-11 campaign on the basis that he would have to earn Ice time, which he did in short order gaining a regular spot on the third line alongside Stuart MacRae and Tylor Michel.

This season Sam looks to be icing on the second line again alongside play maker Stuart MacRae and with powerhouse Phil Hill on the other wing. 

With the opening friendly still ahead of him we managed to catch up with Sam last week and ask him a few questions about his Hockey background and what his expectations for the coming season are.

The Inferno (INF) -  You've recently played in a charity game, will you be looking to help more local charities through your career or is it a one off?

Sam Smith (Sam) - Yes - the game was a lot of fun and I know me Max, Stoney and Stevie all enjoyed playing in it! I think as professional players in any sport you take on the responsibility's of being involved with charity's, schools, generally helping out in the community and personally I love doing it, its great to be able to give back and help people who may be in a less fortunate position than yourself, we have a lot of spare time in our profession and there isn’t much better ways that you can spend your time than doing things like that. So yes I will be looking to do more of those kind of things.

INF- Who's the best forward you've played with and against?

Sam - Tough question! the best forward I’ve ever played with is probably Mark Macmillan, I played with him for 2 years in Canada and watched him go from a pretty good player to getting drafted by the Montreal Canadians all in 2 years, you saw how hard he worked day in day out and was great to see it pay off for him! He's going into his first year at the University of North Dakota which should be great for him, I think Mike Pprich played there too? He’s a great guy off the ice too! The best player I ever played against has to be Ryan Johansen he got drafted in 2010 4th overall to the Columbus Blue Jackets, expect to see him in the NHL very soon!

INF - You spent 3 years in NA, how much has this helped you develop your game and was the transition back to the UK game?

Sam - Its helped enormously, over there I was on the ice everyday at 6 am and then in the gym after school and in bed by 9.30 everyday for 2 years, I was lucky enough to live with a ex NHL player as well, Alan Kerr, and he really kept you on the straight and narrow which was tough at the time but was definitely good for me! They really teach the smaller details over there as far as being a complete player which is tough to do over here with the limited ice time available. The year in America was bitter sweet, it was invaluable as far as what I learnt but at the same time I had complications over there which in turn was what made me make the decision to come back to Cardiff, but I couldn’t be happier with how it has worked out! It was a great experience, one I was very lucky to have and would do it all again in a heart beat!

INF- Have you set any targets for this year after a great start to your senior career?

Sam- Yes, I think targets are very important, its good to have aims to push yourself. Obviously I want to better my point production and play a bigger role on the team. I would also like to be on the plane to the world championships come April.

INF - Do you follow an NHL team?

Sam - Not really if I did I would probably say the Canucks or Bruins, I lived in British Columbia so have a natural liking for the Canucks and Boston was my favourite city I went to whilst over the Atlantic, so I was happy either way with this years cup!

INF- Having Craig Weller as a team mate, how much did this help your game? What was he like as a team mate on and off the ice?

Sam - Having Wellsy on the team last year was amazing, to have the opportunity to play with a guy who has been and done what every hockey player is trying to do was incredible! It definitely helped my game, I think it took everyone’s game to a new level. He just brought it out of you, everyone felt they had something to prove in a sense. He had played in the NHL and worked as hard if not harder than anyone out there. You hear about guys coming over with big resumes and taking a back seat and riding the wave, but this was not the case with Wellsy, he put 100% in every day. He expected a lot from himself, he was usually the last one on the ice at the end of practise and used to help me with little parts of my game, which was fantastic he had the time for me to do this! As for Wellsy as a guy I cant say enough about him, he was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. A great role model, I wish him all the best in Austria this year! I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back in the NHL one of these days! Hopefully Cardiff after?

INF- What got you started playing hockey in the first place? At what age did you start and what got you hooked?

Sam- My mum used to take me skating when I was 2 at Basingstoke ice rink, I think I stopped then till I was about 7 then just went public skating in Cardiff for years with my next door neighbour, wasn’t till about 10/11 I started playing, I joined the u10's right at the end of the season then went through the age groups, it wasn’t until about 14 that I started making progress I was playing on the b-teams till second years u14's, Peter Russell taking over the juniors really helped my game personally, to be honest I was hockey obsessed for years literally lived and breathed it! I painted a goal in my back garden and used to shoot pucks for hours, its still there now thinking about it, my mum is often nagging me to paint over it haha! I think at that age hockey was something different from rugby and football which everyone seemed to play, I think apart from my obvious passion for the game, the uniqueness of the sport is really what got me hooked from a young age!

INF - What was the process for spending the time that you did in America? Were you scouted or was there an application process?

Sam - Basically what happened was, in the conference tournament in Hull u15's there were scouts from the Okanogan hockey academy, Dixon Ward and Andy Oaks were both over and they were friends with Steve Nell the GM at Swindon, his son Aaron who plays for Coventry now was over in Canada playing and he had asked them to come over and watch me and another guy from Swindon. The first time they asked I actually said no, only because at the time I was 15 and playing for Swindon in the EPL and didn’t see the point of going over there I was enjoying my hockey and felt I was developing well, that year though the EIHA brought in a rule that to play with men for child protection rules you had to be 16+ so I went from training and playing with Swindon EPL to being only to able to train/play with the u16's which was fine just I felt frustrated as I wanted to be on the ice as much as possible at as high level as I could, so they again asked me that summer if I would be interested in going over it made sense for me if I was really serious about hockey to go over there, so I packed up my stuff and headed over at the young age of 15 which looking back was a bit crazy but I think I was too young to realise the magnitude of moving to the other side of the world to play a game!

It was tough leaving my friends and family but they all knew it was what I wanted to do, so they just let me get on with it. I think my mum found it the hardest out of all of us haha! My time there was incredible and I loved every minute of it, after 2 years my time of u17's was up so then over there you either give up or go on to play junior hockey. My billet dad was very pro NCAA route opposed to the WHL, OHL, QMJHL routes so he drilled it into me that the NCAA route was the best option so with that you are limited to a handful of leagues where you are still eligible to play college hockey, the best would be the USHL, BCHL, NAHL, followed by a number of league under those, as I was classed as a import over there I was unable to play in the BCHL which would have been my first choice as they don’t take European players, obviously playing in BC I attracted interest from a number of teams but wasn’t able to play so I had to go as a unknown down the NAHL camps.

I went to Bismarck Bobcats camp played well and got a tender off them which basically means you commit your playing right to that team, which was fantastic, so I stopped trialling for teams and headed home to start training for the following season, about 3 weeks till I was supposed to join Bismarck I get a call, saying they’re import from last year a 20 year old Danish guy who had gotten a NCAA d1 scholarship had fallen through because his Danish grades didn’t add up so they were going to have him back as well as a 19 year Canadian goalie which as your only allowed 2 imports left me out of the loop so they said they had a team in Iowa that would have me, so I really didn’t have much choice being so close to the season, then I get a call from Cedar Rapids Rough Riders from the USHL and they asked me to come and play pre season with them so went there and played a few games with them but it didn’t work out so I ended up going back to Dubuque which was great I really enjoyed playing there, but naturally I was frustrated I wasn’t at Bismark after they had promised me so much. But that’s how things work over there, and being a import it makes things twice as hard. But the season went well we came second in the league and then 4th in the country at nationals so the team was fantastic, then that summer G called me and asked if I would be interested in coming back to Cardiff and obviously I said yes and then that’s where we are now. it was a fantastic time over there I loved it.

INF-  What aspects of your game would you most like to improve? Where do you think your game Shines?

Sam - I'd like to improve all aspects of my game, I think everything can always get better and being young I think its important that I'm constantly working on all parts of my game. However I think for my size I skate well, and like to think my shot is a plus point of my game. Obviously being a bigger guy its important I'm good at protecting the puck, being a large frame you have an advantage already but you don’t want to be one dimensional in the sense of being big = hit & fight, I'd like to bring more than just being a big guy, I like to think I have a good base of offensive ability to work off and I think in today’s game you need to be skilful so I'd like to improve my puck skills and my composure on the puck especially. A great example of this is Max Birbraer, he’s a big guy hits hard but brings so much to the table ability wise. I've learnt a lot from Max in my first year and he’s given me a lot of advice and he’s the kind of player I'd hope to develop somewhat into. Hopefully that will come with more experience.

INF - Which one current player in the British leagues (Brit or import) would you like to have playing in Cardiff?

Sam - Well I guess I'd have to say Jon Pelle, Pells is a fantastic player and loves the big stage which is big for any team to have a big game player, and his eye for goal was amazing. I loved Pells as a guy too and still talk regularly with him.

INF - Did the purchase of Sheffield have an impact in the locker room?

Sam - The Sheffield purchase was a definitely a surprise to all of us, but I wouldn’t say it effected the team, we were there to play hockey and focus on ourselves, we all had a job to do and that was simple, to win hockey games, so the fact that the ownership bought a new team really didn’t matter. They could have bought the whole league and our focus would have remained the same. It's tough not to get caught up in all that but what happened, but to say it effected the locker room would be harsh because we are here to play hockey and we weren’t treated any differently after the purchase to what we were before so I wouldn’t say it had an impact.

INF -  Is there a feeling of unfinished business from last season for the team?

Sam - Definitely! And I'm glad that G and Franny have kept a core of guys from last year because I know that we all felt we should have won something last year and be sure that we will be going out this year to put that right!

INF - As you're 20 and still seem to be growing, do you plan any time soon to look at maybe a Vother style role or do you feel hockey is now going down the route of skill and speed and leaving the "enforcer" role behind?

Sam - 19 actually haha personally I'm not a fighter and don’t think I ever will be. Don’t get me wrong if the time comes where I need to drop the gloves I wont hesitate, that’s the sport but at this point in my career I just need to focus on developing my skills and becoming a reliable player so that G and Franny feel they can put me on the ice as much as possible in any situation. I have a lot of respect for guys like Vother, its a tough job to have the possibility of having to maybe drop the gloves every game, but I feel hockey is definitely going down the route of speed and skill but that’s where if your a bigger guy with skill they are becoming invaluable. Just like Max, Vother, Hilly all big guys who bring skill and scoring to the table but all hit hard and that’s what in today’s game bigger guys need to able to do. As for the enforcer role I feel the game is moving slowly away from it, its a shame because its a big part of the game and puts a lot of bums on seats, but that’s the sense I get from the new rules being implied these days, but I'm sure there will always be a place in the game for the enforcer to some extent.

INF - Is there anything else you would like to add?

Sam - Thanks for reading and writing this has really shown me how bad my spelling is (We may have made a few quick corrections but only a couple-INF) ! maybe its time to take a college course... haha

We'd like to thank Sam for taking the time to speak to us and wish him all the best for the season ahead !