Senior year is filled with lots of memories - applying for colleges, going on Spring Break, dancing at prom, and attending graduation. Whalers goaltender Jeremy Smith will be attending U of M-Dearborn next year and was able to graduate with his class and have his graduation party with family friends this summer. However, life as a high-profile hockey player comes with some sacrifices like not going on Spring Break since the team was battling the Kitchener Rangers in the playoffs or not going to prom since the Whalers were in Vancouver at the Memorial Cup. Those sacrifices were rewarded as Jeremy has enjoyed an eventful summer because of hockey - traveling to places like Toronto, Colorado, Columbus, New York, and Nashville to receive awards, be drafted into the NHL, and train for the coming seasons. It might be the off-season, but Jeremy has been very busy and talked about his summer adventures.

Dear Diary-

Right when we got back from the Memorial Cup, I had a tough decision to make. The Whalers banquet and the NHL Combine were going on at the same time. I guess it was one thing or the other and I knew the Combine was pretty important and knew that people would understand. It was unfortunate that I had to miss the banquet. A lot of the guys said it was a blast. It was kind of a farewell and last hoorah for winning it. I caught a flight right before the banquet and went to Toronto for the Combine.

The Combine was a great experience. You go in there and meet the teams and get a feel for the NHL. For myself, I wanted to be positive and stay confident. You interview with teams and also do testing. As far as the testing went, I wanted to give it my all and just let things fall into place. Goalies are no exception; we all do the same testing. You walk into the basement hotel in a meeting room that they turn into a workout area. All the workout routines are along the outside of the room and roped off in the middle are the scouts at their tables with their laptops taking notes. They take your height and weight and wingspan to see how long you can reach. Then it’s off to the testing, one right after the other with no breaks – sit-up, push-up, bench, high jump, upper body strength. There’s just a lot of tests to cover everything. After those tests, you do the Wingate Test, which is a 30 second test that is supposed to imitate an NHL shift. You have a 15-20 minute rest and then go on to the VO2 Test, which I believe tests your oxygen intake and how effectively you use the oxygen in your bloodstream. With all the tests put together it is fairly difficult, since none of them are cakewalks. Afterwards you feel dead and go up to your hotel room and sleep because you’re so exhausted.

The other main part of the Combine is meeting the teams. Altogether I had 20 interviews in Toronto. It went really well. With all those interviews, your mind is just boggled and after every interview I had a notepad that I would write down a few notes about the team and the interview. At the end of the day, after ten to twelve interviews, it all just runs together. It’s the same set-up - they have you walk in, sit at a table, and the teams ask you questions. A lot of it meshes together, so you can’t look back and say, ‘Oh, I remember that team’ since a lot of it are the same questions. You get a feel for the team and a feel for the people in the organization. There were some tough ones. Some teams try to get under your skin, but I tried to stay positive and confident with myself and I thought I did that.

A few days later, I had another decision to make. I won two awards - USA Hockey's Goaltender of the Year and the OHL's Dave Pinkney Trophy - and both trophy presentations were set for the same day. I ended up going out to Colorado to receive the Goaltender of the Year Award. The trip was amazing and winning that award is an honor. I thanked everybody – my parents, coaches, and teammates and everybody who has supported me in the past and present. USA Hockey has been nothing but great to me. They have shown me a lot of respect. It meant a lot for them to honor me with that award. At the end of the banquet, I received some more good news. I was introduced to one of the head international scouts. So I met him and then he’s like, ‘Oh, by the way, I want to invite you to Lake Placid.’ So that was a cherry on top for the night. My parents were standing right behind me, so that was another great event in that day with going to Colorado, receiving the award, and then getting invited to tryout for the World Junior Team. It was a great night.

I wish I could've been in Toronto to receive the Dave Pinkney Trophy, which is awarded to the goaltenders that have the best team goals-against-average in the OHL. Me and Michal (Neuvirth) really worked hard for that. As the season winded down, we realized that goal was accomplishable – not to say we didn’t have confidence we could do it at the beginning of the year – but towards the end we had it in our sights and went for it. We even talked about it and wanted that award. It’s something that nobody can take away from us. Obviously we have to give a lot of credit to our teammates and what they did in front of us to stop the other teams. We all really worked hard for that and it paid off. Michal had just flown back home to the Czech Republic and I was in Colorado, so Coach Vellucci accepted the award for us since he was there receiving the Coach of the Year award.

The summer had been going so great, but I knew there was one event coming up that I have looked forward to my whole life - the NHL Draft. The draft was in Columbus, June 22-23 - a Friday night and Saturday, but I got down there on Wednesday and had dinner with my parents and my agent. The following day I had 3 more interviews – those went really well. So altogether, I had interviewed with 23 teams. The atmosphere down there was really great. The fans packed the building Friday night, so that was amazing. You’d walk up and they had tents up, an Xbox 360 station, and lots of different things to see and check out and then you walk inside and see the beautiful facility. When I got to the rink, Yellowcard was playing a concert outside. That was amazing to see all the people there and all the support from the city. Columbus did a great job putting it on. It was top notch down there. It was the chance of a lifetime and I’ll never forget it.

I knew Nashville was one of the teams I could go to and I was sitting there with my entire family and they said, ‘From the Plymouth Whalers Jeremy Smith.’ I stood up and my family was going crazy and I was so happy. There’s nothing better than that feeling. I was on a high right there and will never forget it. I was chosen by a great organization. I’m really excited I got selected by Nashville and they really have been a Class A team since the start. I remember my meeting with them and everything was positive and great.

It was great to have (Chris) Terry at the draft with me. Not a lot of people get to share that experience with a teammate. It was great to be drafted on the same day as Terry. I went up to Nashville’s suite and he went up to Carolina’s suite. After a bit, I headed over there and we both had our jerseys on and were taking pictures. It was a great experience to share with him and best of luck to him and that organization as well.

Not too long after the draft, Nashville had their Prospects Camp. Vig (former Whalers captain John Vigilante) was great. We flew down together and talked about old times. He’s already been through the camp once, so I had a lot of questions for him. I got down there and got a feel for guys from Milwaukee (AHL affiliate) and Finland and all over the world. They don’t want to intimidate you at all. They really want you to be at ease with everybody and build relationships. They want you to be comfortable and get confidence. That’s really good because I know other teams say, ‘Hey, this is our camp, so come’ and the kids get down there and they’re nervous, scared, and not themselves. Down there in Nashville, if you’re not a nice guy, they don’t want you there. That’s an ideal situation for me to be in. I’ve been really impressed and shocked at how nice everyone has been. I can’t wait for the future to come.

About a week after the Prospects Camp, I went back to Nashville. Going down again was more for myself to get on a program to put on weight and build muscle mass. It was really good because the strength and conditioning coach is really into it. He’s really hands on, put me on a program, and watched me every day to tell me what I was doing wrong and right. Every day I'm down there, I get more comfortable and I get more excited just thinking about what can happen.

In early August, I headed to Lake Placid, New York for the 2007 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp. It was held at Herb Brooks arena, where the 1980 Olympics were held. Just being in that memorable arena where Team USA had the "Miracle on Ice" was amazing and playing on the same ice and wearing the USA jersey was an honor and more than I could ask for.

We stayed three to a room at the Olympic Training Center and my two roommates were TJ Brennan, who plays in the "Q" for the St. John’s Fog Devils, and Jamie McBain, who plays at Wisconsin. They both were really cool and it was fun to talk about the differences between juniors and college. The Olympic Training Center is where all the athletes stay and it is a great facility with everything you could need, including its own cafeteria.

There were a couple of guys at the camp that I played with last summer on Team USA, but most of the guys had played for the National Team Development Program. It was a select group of just 45 players, so it wasn’t a very large tryout. Jonathon Blum was there and he’s another draft pick of Nashville. I played with him overseas and at Nashville’s conditioning camp. Nashville had 5 guys trying out for Team USA and then a couple more on Finland and Sweden. The 8 Nashville picks was the most of any team, so I think it was a good opportunity for myself to play with them, get a feel for how they play, and be around them to see what they're like off the ice too. That way, when I go to main camp for Nashville, I know some of the other players and can be comfortable.

We did the standard off-ice testing the first day we were there like long jump, high jump, and the 10-10, where you go on a treadmill with a 10 incline and 10 speed for as long as you can. Before and after every game, we’d have a stretch with the USA trainer. They really emphasized being stretched and ready to play and that's something I really like that about the USA program. Before our stretches we’d get the soccer ball going. We’d all get in a circle and try to keep the soccer ball off the ground and work on our footwork. 

The camp itself was really good. We had two scrimmages against ourselves – Blue vs. White. We also played Finland and Sweden four times and I thought playing against other international squads was a great experience. It was great for USA as well as Finland and Sweden. The exhibition games were great to see where we stand against other competition. The whole tryout went really well and was a great experience. I felt really comfortable out there. Hopefully it will help my chances of making the team in December.

My summer was pretty busy with exciting adventures and experiences that will change my life forever, but I can't wait to start the season!

-Smitty

-with contributions by Natalie Shaver, Summer of 2007-