Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – It's not often when a rookie two-way centre leads the defending Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference men's hockey champions in scoring.
But that's exactly the position Brett Smythe finds himself in, pacing the MacEwan Griffins with 10 goals and 20 points in 18 games.
"I think it has a lot to do with my teammates," said the St. Albert product, who was lining up regularly with Sean MacTavish and Jacob Schofield earlier in the season, but has lately been clicking on a line with Nolan Yaremchuk.
"I get helped out a lot on and off the ice. They've made the adjustment really easy for me. With guys as good as the guys on my team, it's fun to play."
Smythe will lead MacEwan into action against cross-town rival NAIT this weekend, a rematch of the 2017 ACAC Championship. The Griffins currently trail the Ooks by eight points for first place in the ACAC and lost to them twice in the fall, so there's no question the team will be dialed in Friday (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena) and Saturday (6 p.m., NAIT Arena).
"I think we're a better team now than we were then," said MacEwan interim head coach Michael Ringrose of 3-0 and 5-2 losses to their rivals back in October. "We've continued to get better as the year's progressed here.
"I don't want to take anything away from NAIT. They're certainly a talented group. They play a structured game do things the right way. It's definitely going to be a test. But to reflect on the weekend early on, we're certainly more prepared. As a group, we understand how we need to play to be successful and we're excited for the challenge."
Smythe is among the Griffins players who continue to progress. He has built off a solid start to the campaign that included four goals and three assists in MacEwan's first four games.
No wonder he started strong. With Ringrose implementing a new system, Smythe already had a leg up, having played for the new Griffins coach last season with the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
"He certainly has an advantage," said Ringrose. "For a lot of the guys this year, especially early on, there was a bit of an adjustment period trying to fully understand how I expect them to play and what I was looking for from them. Brett had the advantage of knowing most of that – I won't say it's all the same. There's a comfort level for him which allowed him to focus on playing. As a result, he's off to a really good start."
The way he plays the game has tons to do with it, too; Smythe is like a Patrice Bergeron type – solid on the faceoff dot and dogged on the details in every zone of the ice.
"I definitely take a lot of pride in being solid in all three zones," he said. "I don't like getting scored on and I like creating offence, so I definitely take a lot of pride in that."
That leads to a healthy dose of ice time and the stats have followed.
"He's one of these guys you can rely on in every situation," said Ringrose. "He plays the point on the powerplay for us, he plays up the middle because he's responsible and reliable in the defensive zone, and he just consistently puts himself in good spots.
"As a result, I have a high level of trust in him. Any time you trust a player, that usually that bodes well for their minutes increasing on the ice."
Smythe aims to continue his strong play as the season heads into its stretch run. The Griffins are entering their final 10 games of the regular season and are currently in a logjam of four teams separated by just three points in the standings, so results this weekend are crucial.
"I think we all know we didn't give our best the last time we played NAIT," said Smythe. "We know they're our cross-town rivals and they're the team we're going to have to go through if we want to win another championship. So, I think we're pretty excited to get back at it and hopefully give a little better performance than we did last time."
ICE CHIPS … Smythe grew up playing hockey in St. Albert with fellow Griffins rookies Tyler Mrkonjic and Jake Kohlhauser … Friday night's game is part of the ACAC's 'Make Some Noise For Mental Health' initiative. Fans will receive noisemakers and have the opportunity at prizes.
