Artist’s passion for hockey on display at museum
An artist from Western New York whose work is on display at the Welland Historical Museum until March also has a goal of one day scoring a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Daryl Smith, an art teacher from North Hornell, N.Y. has a colourful passion for the game, which is clear in the portraits of some of the biggest stars he has saluted on the blades of dozens of sticks.
Although art and sports have been part of his life for decades, he started his hobby of paying homage to familiar names in the NHL in 2008 when he was a member of the ice crew during Buffalo Sabres games and would create pieces on pucks for both home and visiting players.
Some of them responded with rich gratitude and others were simply “awful” after receiving his gift, Smith said on Tuesday at the museum, naming one of hockey’s biggest up-and-coming stars as having a poor attitude in response to his kind gesture.
“If somebody painted me on a stick, I’d probably take them to dinner,” he laughed.
Living about two hours from the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie, Smith makes regular trips to Canada, a place he would love to call home one day.
He visits local arenas and eateries, but hardly ever misses a
chance to get an autograph from various athletes when they make public appearances – mostly in and around the Greater Toronto Area.
“If I go to a rink here, it’s like heaven,” said Smith, who also displayed his talents in an exhibit at the Fort Erie Leisureplex in 2016.
Even though he lives in close proximity to Buffalo, a city with its own NHL team since 1970, the knowledge of hockey on this side of the border is several strides ahead of what people know about the sport close to his home.
“Where I am, I can’t talk hockey to anyone. I may as well talk about being an astronaut,” said Smith, a Montreal Canadiens fan who wore a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater during his visit to Welland on Tuesday to talk about his display.
“Here, it’s part of the culture,” he added.
All of the roughly 20 sticks fastened to a wall at the museum are also complimented with the respective player’s autograph.
“You see paintings of presidents and prime ministers – they’re not signed by them. I think it’s pretty neat,” he said.
“It’s an honour to meet these guys,” added Smith, who also explained one of his most memorable encounters was with Gordie Howe a short time before he died in 2016.
He finds most of his hockey sticks at yard sales in the U.S. and Canada. Some of the players featured in his exhibit include Guy Lafleur, Bobby Hull, Gilbert Perreault, and Marcel Dionne.
To learn more about Smith and his work, you can visit www.hockeypainter.com.