STEEP LEARNING CURVE
NEWCOMER SMID READY FOR TUESDAY DEBUT AGAINST VISITING SHARKS
English, even with a fulltime tutor, had been tough enough to master.
And not helping Ladislav Smid’s enunciation? Getting three teeth clubbed out of his head in his first playoff game in North America.
“Kind of accidental, but it was a slash,” recalls Smid, flashing a Chiclet-free grin. “I’ll remember that forever.”
All of which had been part of Smid’s education with the 2005-06 Portland (Maine) Pirates of the American Hockey League. The ninth selection at the 2004 National Hockey League draft, the Czech teen was a commodity — worth watching, worth moulding.
Predictably, though, Smid required immediate grooming on two fronts: Language barrier
“That was hard,” says Smid, who makes his Calgary Flames debut Tuesday — 7 p.m., The FAN 960, Sportsnet West — against the visiting San Jose Sharks. “I took English in school, but that’s not really useful. I could probably point at a car ... or say, ‘There’s a book.’”
He laughs. “But that wasn’t very helpful.”
At the Anaheim Ducks’ main camp, he could lean on Petr Sykora for on-the-spot translation. In Portland, however, there had been no other Czechs.
“Obviously, when your language is not good, you don’t really understand the system perfectly ... and certain plays,” says Smid. “But as soon as I learned the language it got much easier for me.” Style of play
Projected as a two-way blueliner, he had trouble strutting his offensive stuff.
Small rinks. No wiggle room. Frantic pace.
“A huge adjustment,” says Smid, who collected 28 points in 71 games. “For me, it was a hard learning process, espe- cially with over-handling the puck and thinking I had more time than I actually had. But, on the other hand, we had a really good team and a great coaching staff (with skipper Kevin Dineen) and everybody helped me a lot.” Soon, Smid adapted. Even if Portland — which also featured the contributions of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Dustin Penner, P.A. Parenteau, Curtis Glencross, Shane O’Brien — did fall in Game 7, in overtime, to Hershey to miss a trip to the Calder Cup final.
“Heart-breaking,” Smid says now.
“Yeah,” O’Brien crows from the other side of the dressing room. “Heart-breaking, Ladi, heartbreaking.”
Nevertheless, Smid had been propelled headfirst into hockey, North American style.
He perfected his second language. And, following the July 2006 trade to the Edmonton Oilers, his trademark brand of hockey — more gritty than pretty — began to take shape.
“I realized that we had quite a few offensive-minded guys,” Smid says of his early days in Edmonton. “So, at that point of my career, I had to decide what I wanted to be for that team, what role. So I really focused on my defensive side and became a defensive-minded defenceman.”
Even witnessing first-hand the growing pains, O’Brien knew Smid was a gamer.
“He played hard every night,” he says. “You could tell he played hard and he had a lot of emotion. You’ve seen that when he played in Edmonton — he gets in guys’ faces. He’ll be chirping. I think we need more of that here.”
Smid, before Friday’s trade to Calgary, had been leading the Oilers in hits and blocked shots. Which is nothing new — last winter, too, he paced them in both categories. Already, the boss is impressed. “He came as advertised — and maybe even more,” says coach Bob Hartley, who, Sunday and Monday had Smid paired with Derek Smith. “We can tell that he’s really happy to be here. He has that willingness to jump in right away and to be a big factor.”
Tuesday on home ice, Smid, no doubt, will be itching to make an impression. But the 27-year-old will hardly be a nervous wreck, according to his pal.
“I don’t think he’s the type of guy who stresses out about a lot of things,” says Jiri Hudler, who, Sunday evening, had his countryman over to the house for supper. “It’s not like he got traded five hours (before the game). He’s settling down. He’ll be fine. He’s excited to play.
“It’s going to be easy. He fit right in at the first practice. He’s fun to be around and he loves to talk — sometimes too much. I was really excited when we traded for him.”