NMU Captains: Billy Smith
Kyle Whitney
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Sports
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There is no doubt that this is a year of new faces for Northern Michigan hockey. There are currently 13 players on NMU's active roster that didn't play a minute for the Wildcats last season. And while many of these incoming players are still trying to get their feet beneath them, one is standing head and shoulders above the rest: sophomore forward Billy Smith.
Smith, a transfer student from the University of Alaska-Anchorage, was recently named as a co-captain for the 2007-08 season.
"To be named captain is just a real honorable thing," Smith said. "It says a lot about what the guys think about me and my character and it really says that they like what I do out there and that what I'm doing is a positive image for the team."
After coming to Northern early last year, NCAA transfer rules forced Smith to sit out the rest of the season. While he certainly would have liked to be on the ice, the time on the side gave Smith an opportunity to get acquainted not only with his coaches and teammates, but with his own abilities.
"Most of all, I just wanted to slow my game down, be more patient, learn a little bit more and kind of just grow as a player," he said.
While it may seem unusual to take a sophomore transfer and crown him as a team captain, the decision was simple, NMU head coach Walt Kyle said.
"Billy is a guy who gained everyone's respect by his work ethic," Kyle said. "If you watched practice any day last year you would have easily picked him out as the hardest worker on the ice, which is quite an accomplishment for a guy that isn't in the lineup."
Smith's ascension from mysterious transfer student to team leader may seem all too familiar to the coach. In his playing days, Kyle transferred from Boston College to Northern Michigan. After the same rule forced him to sit out the 1978-79 season, Kyle was named the captain of the Wildcat squad in his first year.
"There are a lot of similarities between the way [Smith] plays the game and the way I tried to play the game," he said. "For sure, he's a better player than I was, but I saw [the process] happen and I know it can be successful."
Smith already has a taste of college hockey, as he played in 32 games for the UAA Seawolves during the 2005-06 season, picking up four goals and four assists.
Smith said that after two years with the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers, he chose to play at UAA because it was close to his hometown of Sterling, Alaska and he would be able to play in front of his family once again.
He soon realized, however, that he wanted something more.
"I think the main reason I left Alaska was that I want to make the (NCAA) tournament," Smith said. "I want to be on a team that's going to win a national championship and I felt that I had a better chance by leaving and coming to a better program."
The coaching staff at Northern had spent time attempting to recruit Smith when he was in Green Bay and when he began looking to transfer, the Wildcats picked up the phone.
"I was at a coaching clinic in Rochester, New York when somebody told me that Billy Smith was looking to leave Alaska and transfer," Kyle said. "We immediately got on top of it, because he is a guy that played the game the way I liked."
Within a short period of time, Smith was a Wildcat, even if he was forced to wait nearly a full year to skate in a meaningful game.
"Billy is a great guy and a great teammate," NMU senior forward Matt Siddall said. "It was evident last season-he didn't even play a game-the he was a leader on the ice. He's just got this bulldog mentality that rubs off on guys. He's someone who just puts his head down and goes out there and works really hard."
After scoring a goal in Sunday's exhibition game against the University of Toronto, Smith will make his regular season debut when the Wildcats travel to Michigan Tech for a game on Friday, Oct. 12.
"He brings a fire to the ice every time he steps out there," Siddall said of Smith. "I think he's going to surprise some people. He is going to get the opportunity and he has the ability to really help this team out."
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