Junior Years
Mike Smith was born on March 22, 1982 in Kingston, Ontario. He was raised about 30 minutes north of Kingston in Verona, Ontario. Although, he is often referred to as a Kingston native. Mike's road to success was all about hard work from the start, he was drafted in the 7th round 139th overall in the 1999 OHL Priority Selection by his hometown Kingston Frontenacs. He only played 18 games though during the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 season, as he backed up future NHLer Andrew Raycroft. On October 25, 2000 Mike was traded to the Sudbury Wolves for a 10th round draft pick. After the trade Smitty played in 43 games for the remainder of the season, posting a record of 22 wins, 13 losses and 7 ties along with a 2.52 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Mike led his team to the 2nd round of the playoffs that year. In the summer he was drafted by the Dallas Stars, but he continued to play for the Wolves in the 2001-02 season. Mike had an off season that year, posting only a 19-28-5 record with a GAA just above 3 and a save percentage of .914.