Trevor Smith is hoping, no, make that expecting, that the five-game audition he enjoyed with the New York Islanders will turn out to be more than the proverbial cup of coffee in the National Hockey League.
Smith, who toils in the American Hockey League with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, was called up to the big club a few weeks ago for one home game and a four-game road trip. He believes he acquitted himself well, skating with the big boys, making plays and even popping in his first NHL goal in Calgary against Miikka Kiprusoff.
He was told before being sent back to Bridgeport, Conn., that his departure was just part of a numbers game – the Islanders were getting players back from injury – and that his chance would come again. He was advised to keep working hard and improving his game.
The Calgary game along with the other four were definitely “confidence boosters,” Smith said in a telephone interview. “I felt speed-wise I could play with these guys.”
Smith, 24, admits to early game jitters in his first NHL game but as he got more ice time, his game improved. “I feel it’s just a matter of time before I’m back in the NHL,” the six-foot-one, 195-pound left-winger said.
If he does make it back to Long Island, Smith will join a handful of Jewish players in the NHL. Apart from veterans Mathieu Schneider (Atlanta Thrashers) and Jeff Halpern (Tampa Bay Lightning), only Eric Nystrom and Mike Cammalleri (both Calgary Flames) round out the Jewish fraternity. You’ve got to look to the AHL and East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) to find the next batch of talented Jewish players.
Smith, who hails from North Vancouver, played most of his minor hockey on the West Coast. Coached by his dad, Harvey, he was pushed to improve more than the other players on his father’s tyke and pee wee teams. It looks like it paid off, he said.
As he got older, his goal was to earn a scholarship to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I team. His play with the Quesnel Millionaires got him noticed. In 44 games, he scored 28 goals and added 19 assists. After a year with the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League (USHL), he got the call to play with the University of New Hampshire Wildcats.
In his second of only two seasons with the Wildcats, Smith scored 21 goals and 22 assists in 39 games. He quickly realized his prospects were not limited to college hockey. Some of the guys around him were getting shots at the NHL, and he knew he was as good as they were.
His stats backed him up. He helped the Wildcats win their sixth regular season title, was named NCAA All Hockey East first-team all-star and second-team all-American. He was also named to the New England all-star team.
After only two years of college hockey, the Islanders approached him with an offer he couldn’t refuse – leave college early and sign a pro contract. Smith split the 2007-08 season between Bridgeport and the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. In 53 games with the Sound Tigers, he tallied 20 goals and 17 assists. He was named AHL rookie of the month for February after scoring 15 points in 13 games.
So far this year, he’s leading the team in goals with 22 and he’s added 14 helpers in 41 games.
His play, coupled with the Islanders’ injury situation, prompted the summons. “To be called up was an unbelievable feeling,” he said. In five games with the Islanders, he was teamed with Tim Jackman, Jon Sim and he even played some shifts with Doug Weight. He was at the rink in Phoenix when the long-serving centre scored his 1,000th point. The veteran player even offered some advice: “He told me to calm down and play my game. ‘You’re here for a reason,’” he recalled Weight saying.
Smith can remember some of the details of his first NHL tally, but it all happened so quickly, it remains mostly a blur.
He was coming down the right side when Jackman took a quick shot at Kiprusoff. The Calgary net-minder made the stop but was out of position for the rebound, which Smith gobbled up and put it into the mostly empty net. The crowd went wild – or at least his cheering section did, which consisted of his parents; his older brother, Derek; his cousin, who lives in Calgary; and a few friends.
Over the course of his NHL stint, Smith admits to experiencing rookie jitters. It took a while to settle down, and the Calgary experience was particularly memorable, as he grew up watching the likes of Kiprusoff and Jarome Iginla, he said.
Smith, who has visited Israel on a Birthright trip, believes it’s not a matter of whether he’ll return to the Islanders, it’s a question of when. He now realizes he can skate and make plays at the NHL level, and with his skating ability, vision of the ice and grit, he believes he’d be an asset to the Islanders.