CANTLON: BRAD “SHOOTER” SMYTH FINALLY HAS HIS DAY IN THE SUN  

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

SPRINGFIELD, MA – Shooter is where he deserves to be – The AHL Hall of Fame.

For Brad “Shooter” Smyth, with his family and friends on hand, got to bask in the glow of the game he has loved so much.

“It feels awesome to go to the Hall of Fame with all of these talented gentlemen, and especially to be recognized so early in my retirement. I’m just five years removed from my last game, and to get this honor so early into it, is very, very special for me, and for my family to enjoy it with me,” Smyth stated.

Right off the bat, Smyth took a shot at himself. “I think I got away with an obstruction call there on that clip with my free hand. You can’t do that anymore.”

His brother Greg Smyth, flew in from Hong Kong for the event. His wife Jackie was also in attendance. He called her his ultimate teammate when he paid her with a warm, sincere moment of thanks toward the end of his acceptance speech.

“I love you very much. You stuck with me all these years bouncing around from place to place, I was kind of a human suitcase. Your positivity and sense of humor made it all worthwhile. I love you.”

Smyth, known for his ebullience, confidence, and swagger, had his moments of doubt while he was with the Birmingham Bulls of the ECHL during the infancy of his career in pro hockey back in the early 90s.

“Everyone has doubts as you strive to get to that next level. At the time, the Coast (ECHL) wasn’t comparable to the American Hockey League. A place like Birmingham was where you worked hard to earn that promotion to the next level and work on all aspects of your game. Once I got to the AHL, I never looked back.”

In his first three AHL games in Springfield with the Falcons, a Connecticut connection helped him start his path to the top of the AHL mountain. The assistant coach with the Falcons that year was a former Hartford Whaler and a 50 goal scorer in the NHL twice, Blaine “Stash” Stoughton.

“It was brief, but I really learned from him about the importance of the release of a shot, as well as, the strength of a shot.”

He got his first big AHL break, with the expansion in Greensboro, NC of the Carolina Monarchs in 1995. That signing turned out to be a very sound decision.

“I had a very good coach in Rich Kromm, and he knew my skill set and put me on a line with a super-skilled Gilbert Dionne and a great passer in Brett Harkins. I benefitted playing with those guys as a right-handed shot. I just loved standing in the slot. Our powerplay was lethal that year.”

Smyth would score 68 goals in 68 games. He’s the only player ever to have come so close to challenging the AHL record for goals in a season that is held by Stephan Lebeau when he scored 70 back in 1988-89 with the Sherbrooke Canadiens.

A few players have potted 60, but nobody, except for Shooter has come that close.

Smyth is arguably the greatest Wolf Pack player ever, with a team-best 184 goals and 365 points through three tours of duty in Hartford. His time here made him grow fonder of the team, the players and the city.

“I played a little in Hartford,“ Smyth said with a deadpanned, warm, wry smile, “We were a very close group and back then you spent more time with teammates as there wasn’t nearly the movement we have today. Then, you got to know people on-and-off the ice and the on-ice factor you got to know a person’s characteristics.

We were a team that was built to win. Many guys like myself were signed to come to Hartford for that (express) purpose. To put all those pieces together, we had not a good coach – a great coach – in John Paddock. He knew how to push us and use all our skills combined to make a solid team. That’s why we won a title.”

Paddock was someone he truly admired.

“John always knew the way to motivate players and teams. One way was that he would cut your ice time,” Smyth said with some levity in his voice. “It was because he was demanding of you in order to get results, and in the same way, he gave you room to be yourself and created that all within a team framework. He was a tremendous coach and its an honor to be with him here as part of the AHL Hall of Fame.”

Smyth regaled the crowd with a Paddock story whom he followed to Binghamton and eventually got to play for in his hometown with the Ottawa Senators.

“The veteran guys there some weren’t so happy with our ice time, and I was one of them. So, we’re in Newfoundland and the other veterans said, ‘You played with him for a few years, you go ask him.’ So, John is scouting the morning skate. He’s writing down line combinations and never took his eyes from what he was doing. So, I said to him, ‘John, I want to ask you about something.’ So, I let him know a few of the guys understand it’s a younger development team, but we’re hoping we could get a few more minutes (of ice time).’

“John goes, ‘I’m glad you brought that up.’ Well, the first player was our tough guy. He says he’s taking too many selfish penalties lately. The second guy we picked up on a PTO deal, and he had one goal and one assist in 18 games. Since you got back from Ottawa, you’re not scoring at the same clip you were before, so does that answer any of your questions? We’re done here.'”

The packed house roared with laughter, but Shooter was not done yet.

“So, I run out into the cold of Newfoundland, and the guys ask me, ‘How did it go?’ So, I told them. I said, ‘The next time you want to ask him something, do it yourselves!’ That was vintage John, he held every player accountable. There was no hiding in the lineup. That’s the way it ought to be.”

Smyth gave a warm paen to the Wolf Pack teams he played on.

“We had the undeniable skill of Marc Savard, the leadership of Ken Gernander, and the competitiveness of Brent Thompson. We had all the elements, the fans, and the electricity (in Hartford). It was tough (for the fans) when the Whalers left, but we tried to provide the energy for the fans.”

Two players from the Calder Cup team stood out for him.

The first was goalie J.F. Labbe, who was the first of the four members of that Wolf Pack championship team to be enshrined in the AHL Hall of Fame.

“I believe he was the driving force that led us to the 2000 Calder Cup championship. He was the definition of a big game goalie. I loved playing with him. Thanks, JF.”

Smyth then paid homage to his lifelong friend, Derek Armstrong, who’s now 3,000 miles away in LA. The pair started out as two high school age kids who were playing hockey in Ontario – their on-and-off ice chemistry was as genuine as you can find in pro sports. It was a true give-and-take friendship.

“Derek Armstrong was special. The reason I got to talk about him is if I didn’t, he wouldn’t talk to me (anymore),” Smyth said with a laugh. “We’re pretty tight on-and-off the ice. I loved playing with Army. His puck carrying skills, and savvy were second to none. The passion for the game, which I shared with him, was infectious.”

Smyth ended it with a simple refrain, “Thanks for passing me the puck, Army.”

You could hear Armstrong’s trademark gravely, voice saying, “Ha” as it bounced off the hills of Los Angeles making it’s way to Springfield.

Smyth ended his career playing for Armstrong, who was then the head coach for the now defunct Central Hockey League’s Denver Cutthroats,

The two were a coaching tandem there the following season before the team and league ceased operations.

Smyth thanked his parents for all their dedication of driving him to every rink as a kid and helping him develop as a human being. He also thanked his brother Greg, who he attributes him as the kid-brother who got him started playing hockey.

After the crowd had left, after he was signing some of the last autograph seekers at the Aria ballroom at the MGM Springfield, Shooter still had one more funny story to tell.

“My brother Greg’s name is the same spelling as a guy I played against. We’re in St. John’s playing the Maple Leafs and Greg Smyth, who had a few penalty minutes in his career (1,970 to be exact) and he was nearing the end of his run there. We’re on the ice at a faceoff and he looks over at me, skates past me and says, ‘Good thing you spell your last name right, or I’d knock your head off.’ I looked at him and was totally stunned. Nobody before or since had ever said that to me.“

Smyth was on the road well-traveled. From his days in London, Ontario, to Greensboro, NC, to Binghamton, NY, to Manchester, NH and Hartford with NHL stops in Florida, in New York with the Rangers and then in Ottawa.

Brad Smyth has become an important piece of a quilt that has been knitted in the AHL fabric, and it now has a nice swatch with the name Shooter forever emblazoned on it for all to see.

Photo by Gerry Cantlon