- Editor's note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.
BOSTON — It was the uniform that did it?
Will Smith told San Jose Hockey Now that was the moment that got him really excited about hockey as a kid.
“My dad, one of his best friends, Pat Hunt, actually came by the house with a jersey. So that's how I got into it,” Smith said. “I just remember playing in house, and I was probably six years old, and that's kind of when I fell in love.”
That how his dad, Bill Smith, remembered it too: “He just turned five, and Pat asked him [to play], and he said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.'
“But then he was waiting for his uniform. He's like, When am I getting my uniform? He kept going up to him, bothering him. And then Pat showed up at the house with his uniform, and that was kind of the start of it all.”
Before the Lexington native’s first NHL game in Boston, with his San Jose Sharks taking on the Bruins at TD Garden on Monday afternoon, Smith and his father spoke about some of the pivotal moments that shaped the 19-year-old rookie’s youth.
San Jose Sharks
What was Smith’s second sport? What was Bill's role in Will wearing No. 2?
How It Started
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Bill Smith: "When he was young, he just had a ton of energy. My wife [Colleen] took him to the local rink at like four just for regular skating lessons, not really thinking about it.
"And then when he was five, we had a neighbor [Pat Hunt], had an in-house team for young families in town."
The Uniform
Will Smith: "My dad, one of his best friends, Pat Hunt, actually came by the house with a jersey. So that's how I got into it."
Bill Smith: "He just turned five, and Pat asked him, and he said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' But then he was waiting for his uniform. He's like, 'When am I getting my uniform?' He kept going up to him, bothering him. And then Pat showed up at the house with his uniform, and that was kind of the start of it all.
"The day he got on the ice, between the speed of the game, they kept score from day one, there were penalties, everything."
"He loved the fast pace of hockey and everything."
“It was just non-stop”
Bill Smith: "[Pat Hunt] had an outdoor rink in his backyard.
"Even at five, Will was going over his rink every day and skating in his backyard rink."
"He would skate for, they'd stay there five or six hours. Until they got kicked off, basically."
"If he wasn't at the [local] rink, or if it wasn't at Pat's house, it would be at some local pond. If I wasn't home, he'd get my wife Colleen, drag her to some, he'd say go down this street, go down this street, and there'd be some woods, and be a little path through the woods, and there'd be a little pond inside where he and his cousin would get shovels, and they’d go and skate in the pond.
"He was down in the basement, shooting pucks all night. He just crank music and shoot pucks down the basement. It was just non-stop."
No. 2
Bill Smith: "So when Will started playing for the Boston Junior Eagles, which is a big club team around here, he went there as a mite, and he had to pick a uniform number. I'm like, 'you know what? The best player I ever saw at BC was Brian Leetch. So let's go with No. 2.'
Will Smith: "Besides that, I liked No. 2. It's kind of a QB number."
Baseball
Will Smith: "I just loved [hockey], to be honest. Probably that or baseball."
Bill Smith: "He was a shortstop and a pitcher."
"It's funny, his last game, it was the last game ever in Little League in town. He hit a walk-off grand slam home run to win the championship.
"But he basically, after that, he had to give it up."
