Chloe Smith loves
the fact her rivals have become her friends.
The 18-year-old
centre, who is a rookie with University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey
team, arrived in Saskatoon having built a reputation as being one of the fiercest
competitors in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League. For the past
four seasons, Smith rose to prominence with her hometown Swift Current Diamond
Energy Wildcats possessing a rare combination of skill and toughness.
Her game hit new
heights over her final two campaigns with the Wildcats, where she piled up 31
goals and 50 assists in 54 regular season games. Smith played with a physical
edge that many couldn’t match, but it was also a smart physical edge. She only
took 42 minutes in penalties over the past two campaigns making her an almost
perfect power forward.
Arriving in
Saskatoon in late August to join the Huskies, Smith, who stands 5-foot-7,
became teammates with many players she used to battle against in the midget AAA
ranks, while also being reunited with former Wildcats teammates in Brooklyn
Haubrich, Kayla Kirwan and Jasey Book. Smith is enjoying the fact she is
playing beside her former rivals, but she is quick to note nothing was ever
taken personally when it game to the battles on the ice.
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| Chloe Smith jets into the offensive zone for the Huskies. |
“We chuckle a little
bit,” said Smith. “We talk about it, we talk about the games.
“Honestly, it is
fine. When you are on the ice, it is different. You are playing.
“Off the ice, we are
all friends and get along. We kind of laugh about things back in AAA. It is
funny to talk about it, talk about the close games. It is good too.”
Smith was quick to
add she played with a number of her current Huskies teammates in Saskatchewan’s
provincial team program and the bonds remain from those days. Off the ice,
Smith is personable and outgoing, and she also exudes a presence in a good way wherever
she is. On the ice, her competitive side dominates, and she doesn’t hide what
type of player she strives to be.
“I want to be strong,”
said Smith. “I don’t want to be known as the kid that gets knocked off the puck
easy.
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| Chloe Smith built a reputation for being a fierce competitor. |
“I want to get in
there and make things happen. That creates offence when you are winning your
battles, and you are strong. I’m not going to lay down to no one.
“I try my best to
get involved and to make contact. I grew up playing boys hockey, so that helps
me out a little bit.”
Smith took up hockey
at the novice level playing on boys’ teams when her family still resided in
Paradise Valley, Alta. She kept playing the sport when her family relocated to
Swift Current when she was in Grade 3.
When her family
moved to Swift Current, Smith continued playing on boys’ team until her first
year in bantam, when she actually played for the city’s female midget AA team.
As 14-year-old bantam aged player, she made the Wildcats as an underage player.
Smith glows when she talks about her four seasons with the Wildcats.
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| Chloe Smith looks to make a pass. |
“Those were the times
of my life,” said Smith. “I had so much fun with that time.
“The community was
awesome. They always supported us, and we all did events for them every year. We
got along really well with the school.
“We had good fans
coming out and supporting our games. We would do the same for the school teams.
It was really fun.”
During her second
season with the Wildcats, Smith became well-known across the SFMAAAHL for one
play that occurred on March 10, 2015. The Wildcats were in Saskatoon facing the
host Stars in Game 1 of a best-of-five SFMAAAHL semifinal series.
Smith knocked out
Stars star forward Nara Elia, who would later go on to play for Canada’s
under-18 women’s team, with a hit. For that collision, Smith received a major
penalty for a head hit, a game misconduct and had to sit out a one-game
suspension. Reflecting on what happened, Smith said the hit happened by
accident.
She said she was skating
backwards at first as her Wildcats were regrouping in their own zone for a
breakout, and Elia swung through the Swift Current zone on the forecheck. As
Smith turned to skate forward, she saw Elia at the last second coming towards
her and the two collided. Smith braced for the collision in order to protect
herself, and Elia had her head turned and didn’t see she was about to run into
Smith.
The two ended up
being teammates in Saskatchewan’s provincial team program. Smith said they
talked about what happened and have become good friends. Besides the
competitive part of the game, Smith said she loves making friendships in the
sport, and she has done that easily with every team she has been part of.
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| Chloe Smith sets up position on the forecheck. |
While Smith became
known for that collision with Elia, she had a decent campaign offensively in
her second season with the Wildcats netting 10 goals and nine assists in 28
regular season games. As a result, Smith became a figure to watch in the
SFMAAAHL going into her 16-year-old season, and she closed out her midget AAA
career by exploding offensively.
“I got a lot more
confident with the puck, and that was actually huge,” said Smith, who was the
Wildcats captain in her final season with the team. “I started carrying it more
and shooting it more.
“I realized that I
actually maybe have a shot of playing high level hockey.”
Huskies head coach
Steve Kook saw Smith’s hit on Elia, and while the images of that play were ingrained on his mind, the bench boss was impressed with how well the Wildcats
star played afterwards. Kook went to work on the recruiting front and succeeded
in getting a commitment from Smith.
“Chloe fits our
style the way that we want to play,” said Kook. “She is physical. She is
skilled. Smitty skates well.
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| Chloe Smith, left, is always ready to battle in the corners. |
“She needs to get up
to speed a little bit here, but that will come as she gets more games under her
belt and gets used to the program and the league. She shoots the puck so well. The
grittiness of her it fits who we are.”
On Saturday
afternoon at the ancient Rutherford Rink, Smith wasn’t able to get on the
scoresheet, but she was a presence during a 2-0 pre-season win against the
MacEwan University Griffins of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
Centring a line with
Shyan Elias and fifth-year veteran Kori Herner on the wings, Smith skated with
a lot of energy and intensity. It seemed like she didn’t lose any battles in
the corners.
In the third period,
she created two solid scoring chances. On the second of those changes, she
drove hard to the net, and the play ended with her having a stare down against
two Griffins players before the officials directed everyone away.
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| Chloe Smith has befriended old rivals upon joining the Huskies. |
Smith wants to keep
playing for as long as she can. She admits she would love to get a chance to be
part of Canada’s national team program one day but adds that a lot of things
have to materialize for that to happen.
She wants to get her
education degree, but also plans to keep doors open to get into firefighting,
when her time with the Huskies concludes. For now, she is focused on enjoying
every moment of her rookie campaign and believes her Huskies can make noise in
the Canada West Conference and the overall U Sports ranks.
“We’re fast, (and)
we’re smart with the puck,” said Smith. “We still have a lot of improvement
that is coming.
“I think we’re going
to be real competitors in the league this year. I think we have a good team,
good goaltending.
“Everyone is getting
along. I think it is going to be a good year for us.”
In Saturday’s win over
the Griffins, sophomore forward Bailee Bourassa scored with 20 seconds to play
in the second period to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead, and she assisted on a
third period goal from defender Madison Colbow.
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| The Huskies celebrate their 2-0 pre-season win on Saturday. |
Chloe Marshall
turned away 14 shots to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Huskies, who
finish their pre-season schedule posting a 5-1 record. Sandy Heim turned away
25 shots to take the setback in goal for the Griffins.
The Huskies are now
off until Oct. 6, when they open their regular season schedule hosting their
provincial rivals the University of Regina Cougars at 7 p.m. at Rutherford.
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