Goalie Smith provides crease consistency
NORTH BAY, Ont. – Goaltender Jake Smith of the North Bay Battalion is no stranger to a heavy workload.
Smith, who has appeared in 14 of the Ontario Hockey League team’s 16 games, figures to add to that number this weekend when the Troops play three games in as many days.
The Battalion, set to don camouflage-style uniforms, will conduct a Remembrance Day salute when it hosts the Peterborough Petes at 7 p.m. Friday. The Troops visit the Barrie Colts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday before entertaining the Mississauga Steelheads at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“Once you start playing a lot of games, you start getting into a groove,” Smith, 19, said Wednesday.
A five-foot-11, 193-pound resident of Oakville, Ont., Smith appeared in 42 games last season and started the club’s 22 playoff games.
“I’m not as big as some other guys, so I have to do a lot more in net, and when I first started playing a lot of games it was tough. But now it’s just a matter of staying in shape. You can get tired, but you just keep going.”
In two previous games this season against the Petes, Smith made 24 saves through overtime in a 3-2 victory via shootout at home Oct. 3 and faced 33 shots last Thursday night at Peterborough, when the hosts prevailed 2-1 on Stephen Nosad’s goal at 19:53 of the third period.
“Losing a game with six seconds left is tough,” said Smith, who has a won-lost-extended record of 8-3-3 with one shutout, a 2.25 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
“They’re a good team and they’ve always given us a tough time. It’s always a tight battle. We need to give them some payback. There were a lot of shifts in momentum in that game. We’ll have to keep jamming the net and capitalize on our opportunities.”
The Battalion and Colts meet for the fourth time. North Bay, 9-3-4 for 22 points, has a four-point lead over Barrie atop the Central Division.
Smith, in goal when the visiting Colts took a 5-4 overtime decision in the Battalion’s season opener Sept. 26, made 20 saves as the Troops rode a third-period hat trick by Nick Paul to a 4-1 home-ice win Oct. 13. Evan Cormier backstopped the Battalion to a 4-3 victory at Barrie on Oct. 25. The Colts, who are without injured No. 1 goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, have lost five of their last six games.
“They’re very talented up front,” said Smith. “They’ve struggled a bit with Blackwood out, but they have the potential to be really good. They have the talent up front that can allow them to score five or six goals on any given night. You need to learn how to shut down their offence.”
Smith faced 17 shots in a 4-3 victory over the visiting Steelheads on Oct. 19 and made 29 saves in a 3-0 win at Mississauga on Oct. 31.
He also was in goal for two of the most memorable games the Battalion has played since relocating to North Bay last season.
Smith became part of an Internet sensation with his apparent stop of a shootout attempt by Adam Laishram of the visiting Belleville Bulls on Oct. 30 in a game the Bulls eventually won 3-2. Smith stopped Laishram’s shot and believed a win had been sealed, but the once-soaring puck landed in the slot and rolled into the net Smith had vacated to celebrate with teammates.
“I think the video has been viewed thousands of times online. The puck hit my blocker, and the ref yelled ‘No goal.’ The fans were cheering and the guys came on the ice, and the first thing I thought of was how that was a good win. All of a sudden the puck hits the ice and goes in. You’ll never seen another bounce like that in a million years. I thought the puck went into the netting, because I didn’t hear anything. I was the most surprised guy in the place when the puck went in.”
On Nov. 2, Smith relieved Cormier in the second period with the host Battalion trailing the Sarnia Sting 4-2. Smith stopped 12 of 13 shots the rest of the way as the Troops erupted for six unanswered goals in an 8-5 victory.
“That was a tough game,” said Smith. “We’ve had some bad bounces against us all season. We had goals go in off our own guys in that game, and it wasn’t Cormier’s fault. I went in, and it’s tough to go in like that, but anything can happen and you have to do your best to keep the team in it. Things turned around for us, and it was good to see the guys didn’t roll over and give up.”
Smith said he’s provided some counsel for Cormier, a 17-year-old rookie who has appeared in three games this season. A ninth-round pick in the 2011 OHL Priority Selection, Smith played 20 games as a rookie behind Matej Machovsky in 2012-13.
“It’s tough. Every game you play, you need to impress. He’s been good for us so far. You have to keep working hard in practice. He’s good positionally and a lot bigger than me. He moves well and gets himself in the position to make saves.”