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Matteo · 08-24-2020, 11:01 PM

The SMJHL's 55th regular season has now come to an end, and with it the inaugural season of the Quebec City Citadelles, as well as rookie goaltender Mat Smith. Let's look at how Smith got to where he is now, and how he performed in his first professional season.

As we know, Smith went undrafted in the season 55 SMJHL entry draft, but quickly appeared on many teams' radars after his one-game performance as emergency backup goalie with the Fife Flyers of the United Kingdom's Elite Ice Hockey League. If you missed this story, you can read all about it here. He ended up signing a $3 million contract with Quebec City, which included a $2 million rookie signing bonus.

Smith made good use of this money, spending $4.5 million on personal training, and the other $500 thousand on his first weekly training session. Though this was a great way to spend his contract, Smith had found himself to be out of money in only the second week of the season. To pay for more training, Smith has been making good use of the League's promise to pay $100 thousand per Tweet that uses the hashtag "#SHLHockey," and he also became a freelance writer and graphic designer for the League. Today, Smith's bank balance sits at a cool $6 million, which is only set to increase once his graphics are graded.

In Mat Smith's first interview as a member of the Citadelles, he was asked if he had set any goals for the season. This was his answer:

"Y'know, I'm not expecting to come out here and carry the team to a Four-Star Cup, at least not in my first season of play. If, at the end of the season I end up with a save percentage above .900, goals against average below 3.50, and maybe a shutout along the way, I'll be god damn ecstatic."

This season, netminder Smith finished with a record of 6-13-0. There is definitely room for improvement here, but for a rookie goaltender on an expansion team, this is not terrible. The goals that he set at the beginning of the season ended up being hit-and-miss, as he hit with a save percentage of .905, but unfortunately missed with his goals against average of 3.91 and no shutout.

There was also some controversy that some may remember towards the middle of the season between Mat Smith and Citadelles co-GM Oisín Fletcher. Not too much of this became public, but the story as we know it is that Smith was repeatedly making harsh and personal remarks about something very near and dear to Fletcher's heart, the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League. Fletcher repeatedly told Smith to stop and threatened to put him on the trade block if he didn't, but Smith kept on persisting. Eventually we did see Mat Smith's name on the trade block, but Fletcher never ended up pulling the trigger on any deals. Eventually Smith was taken off the block, which prompted us to ask him what had happened. He had the following to say:

"There was barely any beef between Oisey and me, you and the rest of the media blew that way out of proportion. You fuckers. Any disagreement that we had is now behind us. Of course he'll always be a fan of the Montreal Canadiens and I'll always be a fan of the Ottawa Senators, and none of that will change any time soon, but we were able to find some common ground, which seemed impossible a few weeks ago. We were able to bond over our mutual hatred of the Toronto Maple Leafs."

So it seems that all is okay again between Fletcher and Smith. Our insiders are working every day to keep you updated in case anything changes, but for now there is peace in the Citadelles locker room.

Moving on to more on-ice performances, today, after the last game of the regular season, Smith was asked how he felt about his performance over the past couple of months, and what his plan will be in the playoffs and future seasons. He had the following to say:

"I'm pretty happy with how I did this season, even if I started to fall apart a little bit at the end there. I earned 239 TPE, which I'm told is pretty good for an undrafted rookie, and on top of that I was also able to meet my save percentage goal. Of course I didn't end up meeting my goals against average goal or getting that shutout, but my GAA stayed below 3.50 right up until about the three quarters mark of the season. This offseason I'm planning on working on my mental toughness and stamina to make sure that this late season collapse doesn't happen again. I'll also of course be working some more on my reflexes and all that."

"I'm not sure what Oisey and Roachsy's plans are for the upcoming playoffs, whether they're thinking of leaning on Danielson or me or splitting starts or what, but whatever their choice is I'll respect it and be ready if they need me. And I promise my agent won't post a picture of me with a sword going through my back with a member of management's name on it, or anything ridiculous like that. Could you imagine?"

"As for next season, I'll be looking to build on what I started this year. I think I can finish with a save percentage that's .910 or higher, and also get that GAA down below 3.50 like I wanted to this season. I would also love to push to 25 games played, and if I do, get at least 10 wins, but of course that'll depend on management as well as how well Danielson and I play. I'm also gonna be looking to chase that elusive shutout."

So there you have it folks, Mat Smith's first professional regular season complete. Of course Smith will also be eligible for the upcoming season 56 SHL entry draft, so we'll have to wait and see where he ends up going there. Experts pretty unanimously have said that they see him going somewhere in either the first or second half of the draft, though definitely not both. This is a bit of a bold prediction but most of his comparables have also been drafted in this area so it isn't that far fetched. All in all, the future is looking real bright for Smith as many scouts project him to end up as a strong starting goaltender in the SHL for whichever team that drafts him.

Word count: 1179

W19eaver · 08-25-2020, 03:42 AM

Ahh mutual hatred of the leafs a bond that can bring anybody together <3

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