Gary Smith departed as coach of the Lebanon High boys hockey team six years ago, searching for more balance in his life. He’s found it, along with a winning touch, as bench boss of the Dartmouth College men’s club hockey team, which is competing in a national tournament in St. Louis this weekend,
The Big Green, comprised mainly of former high school, prep school and junior-level players, entered tournament play Thursday night at 16-0-1 but is facing formidable competition. Many of its opponents recruit, and their players enrolled specifically for hockey. Dartmouth’s roster is comprised of students who chose the school primarily for academic reasons.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but think it will be an eye-opening experience for us,” said Smith, who works in commercial sales for a local technology company. “I think we can go out there and hold our own, but I’m not sure if the level of play is anything we’re ever seen.”
Smith, a 39-year-old Springfield, N.H., resident, is a 2000 Lebanon High graduate who earned a degree from Colby-Sawyer College four years later. He assisted with his alma mater’s team before taking its head coaching job in 2008.
The high school schedule, requiring near-daily on-ice sessions from late November to early March, eventually took a toll, and Smith cast his eyes elsewhere.
At the time, Dartmouth’s men’s club team was a “glorified men’s league” team, as Smith describes it. Some players showed up for practices and games only when they felt like it, and there were 40 players on the roster with varying degrees of commitment and talent.
Smith, along with longtime assistant Mike Fisher, put an end to the casual vibe during his first season.
“We got down to 18 players because when some kids saw that the team was going to be more serious, they fizzled out,” the coach said.
Dartmouth practices twice a week and has one to two games per weekend. The team also takes December off, for that’s when its school has holiday break. It adds up to fewer demands on Smith’s time, but he’s still got his hands full. The coach, along with the club’s student leaders, must schedule transportation and referees, arrange for food on road trips and collect dues.
Dartmouth has an assistant athletic director for club sports, who serves as a liaison to the college and its athletic department. The institution provides some financial assistance to its club teams, and men’s hockey players pay $375 a semester and provide the majority of their equipment.
“I’ve got some really talented kids on my team,” Smith said. “Six or seven could hold their own skating with the varsity, and some of them could have played (NCAA Division III hockey) or gone the junior hockey route.”
Dartmouth has a handful of players who played for strong high school programs, a few junior alumni and two graduate students, including goaltender Michael Cullen, a former star at Division III Amherst (Mass.) College.
Smith said opponents sometimes features half a dozen graduate students and draw from student bodies that can be as large as 40,000.
Tenth-seeded Dartmouth opened play Thursday against the seventh-seeded University of New Mexico in the 16-team tournament. The Big Green faces Grand Valley (Mich.) State on Friday and Saginaw (Mich.) State on Saturday and needs win that four-team pool to advance. Dartmouth qualified for the same tournament two years ago before COVID-19 caused the event’s cancellation.
“Leaving Lebanon was a tough decision, but I was looking for something different, and I absolutely found it,” Smith said. “This a perfect balance of family, work and being around competitive people.
“I enjoy that these kids are there for academics and their social lives and then hockey. It’s different going from teenagers to young men from all around the country.”
Tournament information: https://www.achahockey.org/2022-nationals.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.