Flames prospect enjoying ride
Hunter Smith getting taste of hard road to success in Memorial Cup run
A brisk 40-minute spin around the ice. That’s plenty.
Because at this point of the campaign — through 68 regular-season games, through 21 post-season games — little conditioning is necessary.
So Hunter Smith and the Oshawa Generals dashed through Friday afternoon’s session at the Colisee Pepsi and hit the showers.
“Just get the feet moving, just get everyone moving back at game pace,” Smith, 19, said post-practice from Quebec City. “Obviously, we are on a huge high after winning the (Ontario Hockey League championship). You’ve just got to bring it back down to earth, refocus. “There is a bigger goal out there.” Saturday, in their opening appearance at the Memorial Cup, the Generals face the Rimouski Oceanic.
They take on the host Quebec Remparts the next day. Tuesday, they’ll meet the Kelowna Rockets.
“Obviously, everyone’s excited,” said Smith, the Calgary Flames’ lone representative at the tourney, which decides junior supremacy every spring. “It’s a great opportunity to be a part of this, to get a chance to win the Memorial Cup. But, at the same time, we’ve got to treat it like another game.
“We’ve won a lot of games this year. We’ve played a certain way. If we continue to play our way, it’s going to be tough for teams to beat us.”
For the Windsor, Ont., native — nabbed with the 2014 secondround choice the Flames received from the Colorado Avalanche for goalie Reto Berra — a playoff run of this magnitude has been an education.
“I’ve never really won anything in hockey in my life … never really made it deep into the playoffs,” said the right-winger, 6- foot-7 and 220 pounds. “You never really understood that mental grind that it takes to really push yourself … and how beat down your body gets (with) the travel, the bus trips, having to play every other night for two months straight.
“It was a huge learning curve for me. It gives you a taste of how hard it could be at the next level.”
To capture the OHL crown, the Generals dispatched the Erie Otters, which meant stifling superstar Connor McDavid.
Much of the credit for the blanketing job goes to Smith’s unit, with centre Cole Cassels and winger Brad Latour, which created a lot of buzz.
Now, though, he downplays the shutdown.
“It was cool to be a part of, but, obviously, maybe too much focus was going on that,” said Smith. “Can you really look past our other lines who scored three, four goals a night for us? A little too much credit is going to that (checking assignment). Also, Erie had more players than Connor.”
Yes, but McDavid, soon to become an integral part of the Battle of Alberta, is a treat to watch — even from up close.
“Best junior player I’ve ever seen,” said Smith. “So fast and he really can make something out of nothing. A very dynamic player who’s exciting — even pretty exciting to play against.”
The Flames brass likes what it is seeing from Smith, who picked up 18 points in 21 playoff dates, which hints at offensive promise. In the regular season, the hulking forward managed 49 points in 57 games.
“I think I’ve been performing pretty well,” he said. “But when you win, things seem to go right. Obviously, it’s nice to get points and whatnot. But you want to move up to the next level and you don’t just want to be there. You want to contribute.”
Flames development coach Troy Crowder, big man to big man, keeps close tabs on Smith. (“We were in constant communication throughout the season,” said the lad.) And following the OHL-championship clincher, Smith received a wellwishing text from general manager Brad Treliving.
However, because of his own hockey-playing priorities — and the lateness of the Flames’ starts — Smith didn’t catch much of Calgary’s post-season action.
Nor did he and Cassels, a Vancouver Canucks draft pick, place a friendly wager on the outcome of the first-round series.
“I’m not much of a gambler,” said Smith, with a chuckle. “But everyone talks about what a hardworking team (the Flames) are, how young they are, what a good season it was for them to make it past the first round. There’s nothing but positives they can take from this season.”
C-NOTES: For the fifth time, Flames rookies are participating in the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, B.C. They open the four-club round-robin Sept. 11 against the Winnipeg Jets. The Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers are also participating in the tournament, which is being played for the fifth straight season.