Playing Career
Smith first played senior-level hockey when the sport was amateur. Smith first played senior for the Ottawa Emmetts from 1903 until 1905. He moved to the Ottawa Victorias of the Federal Amateur Hockey League (FAHL) in 1905-06 and also played for the Stanley Cup champion Ottawa Hockey Club, aka the "Silver Seven" that year. He moved to Pittsburgh to become a professional with the Pittsburgh Professionals in 1906, playing three seasons in Pittsburgh before returning to Canada with the Brantford Indians of the Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL) where he played two seasons. In 1910-11 he moved over to Galt of the OPHL helping Galt win the OPHL championship. Smith, along with most of the Galt team bolted to Moncton Victorias the following season, helping Moncton win the Maritime championship. The Galt and Moncton teams Smith played for played consecutive Stanley Cup challenges, Galt against Ottawa in 1911 and Moncton against Quebec in 1912, both times unsuccessfully. Smith then joined the Quebec Bulldogs after the challenge, and played in five seasons for the Bulldogs until 1920. During the 1910s, he also played for the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Shamrocks in the National Hockey Association (NHA). While with the Canadiens, he played in the 1917 Stanley Cup Finals against Seattle.
After the 1913–14 season in Quebec, he was traded (twice) to Toronto Shamrocks. This caused a dispute with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. At that time, the NHA and PCHA had an agreement whereby the PCHA teams could draft one player from 3 of the 6 teams of the NHA. He was traded away from Quebec, which was eligible to lose a player. He started play for Shamrocks, though he had been drafted by Victoria of the PCHA. It was found that the initial trade was not allowed, and Quebec re-traded him to Toronto during the season, disregarding the PCHA efforts to get him. After the 1914–15 season, he was traded back to Quebec, avoiding the PCHA draft again.
While skating for the Ottawa Vics in 1906, Smith led the FAHL with 12 goals (including eight goals in a game against Brockville on February 23, 1906). In future years, he was the leading goal-scorer in the OPHL (1908–09) and the NHA (1910–11, 1913–14, 1914–15).
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