Jordan Smith won a Calder Cup championship as an assistant coach in Abbotsford last season and is hoping to make his way to the NHL, nearly two decades after an eye injury ended his dream of playing in the big leagues
THUNDER BAY – Growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, Jordan Smith was like a lot of Canadian kids.
He dreamed of playing in the NHL, winning a Stanley Cup and living his hockey dream.
As a player, he was one step away from realizing his goal.
A star defenceman with his hometown Soo Greyhounds, Smith was a second-round pick of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, taken 38th overall in the 2004 NHL entry draft.
After playing five games with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks at the tail end of the 2004-05 season, Smith was assigned to the Portland Pirates in 2005-06, to continue his development and for the parent club to further determine if he had what it took to play in the National Hockey League.
Then tragedy struck.
On Feb. 24, 2006, Smith, who was not wearing a face shield, was hit in the face by a deflected puck, and lost sight in his left eye.
It made him ineligible to play in the AHL or NHL, but undaunted, he didn’t let it end his playing career.
Smith landed at Lakehead University midway through the 2006-07 campaign, and spent five seasons in Thunder Bay, leading the Thunderwolves to a pair of national championship appearances, the school hosting the CIS tournament in 2009 and 2010.
He then took over the reins of the Thunder Bay North Stars in 2012 and eventually made his way back to the Ontario Hockey League, where he was an associated coach first with Sudbury and later with the Greyhounds.
It led to an assistant coaching stint with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, an affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, a post he held for two seasons, before being hired by Thunder Bay’s Ryan Johnson to serve a similar role with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, the farm team of the Vancouver Canucks.
Johnson is general manager of the club and an assistant GM with the NHL team.
Last spring, Abbotsford captured the Calder Cup, with Smith behind the bench.
It was a thrilling moment, he recalled, in Thunder Bay last weekend for Lakehead Athletics’ wall-of-fame ceremony, Smith one of 16 former hockey players inducted, a nod to the team’s 25th anniversary.
“It was jubilation,” he said. “I think we had about six seconds left after a face-off, but it was a long six seconds and we were able to get the puck out and when the buzzer went off in Charlotte is was amazing. Everything that we’d worked for came to fruition and I was just so happy for the players.
“What they put in, through the injuries and the emotions, to be able to do what we did was very special.”
Smith said it’s been a long, but fun journey from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay to Canada’s west coast. It’s been a grind, but worth every second.
“I slowly worked my way up. I consider myself a student of the game, still, and learning. I was fortunate to work in the Ontario Hockey League and then move onto the American Hockey League. Last year in Abbotsford was pretty much the pinnacle of my career so far,” Smith said.
While the 39-year-old’s dreams of playing in the NHL were never realized, he’d love to get to the big leagues in a coaching role.
It’s the ultimate goal, he said.
“That was something, when the injury did happen, I wanted to get back there. Through a lot of hard work and perseverance, I feel like I put myself in that position. If it happens in the near future, great. If not, I’ll continue to do the best job where I am,” Smith said. “It’s been a roller coaster. You can’t really plan too much. Just do your job and see what happens.”