Inside the Mind of a Veteran Goaltender
For Jake Smith, goaltending has never just been about stopping pucks. It’s about adjustment, resilience, and a mental grind that most players never fully understand. After spending time playing overseas, Smith quickly realized the North American game demanded something different. “Definitely one of the big adjustments, other than the size of the rink, was just like the abundance of games overseas, we have a lot lighter schedule, so, you know, you have plenty of time to rest, plenty of time to focus on practice or gear. Here is more focusing on games, and you can get into a little more of a rhythm, which I do really appreciate. Just the physicality, the game too. It's a lot more guys driving the net, a lot more hitting. So trying to get a clear vision of the puck is a lot more difficult.”
The tighter schedule and heavier physical play forced him to sharpen his focus. Traffic in front of the net, bodies crashing the crease, and unpredictable shots are all part of the job. And for Smith, competing through that chaos is non-negotiable. “Tracking every shot, every time, whether you're going down, staying up, always compete, compete on every puck, and just be the hardest working guy on the ice.”
- Photo Credit: Stacey Gramlich/Olde City Sports Network
That competitiveness becomes even more important when facing shots that defy logic. “A puck that's like, flat on the guy's stick, like a knuckle that guy that shoots it, kind of like a knuckle puck. You can't really read it. The guy just flings it at the net, and you can't read the release as well.”
For a smaller goaltender, technical precision becomes critical. Smith knows he can’t rely solely on size to bail him out. “I would just say my puck handling. I would say I compete, and just like the positioning overall of the smaller goalie, you kind of need to have those things.”
His style — built on movement, positioning, and relentless competition — traces back to his childhood inspiration. “Curtis Joseph was the guy who inspired me to be a goalie, so he was my OG. Right now, I love watching guys like Dustin Wolf and Juuse Saros, guys like that, smaller guys that move unbelievably, and they're just competing every night.” That admiration started early. “Since day one, and since my dad took me to my first game, I saw Curtis Joseph playing. Every time since then, I was trying with my house league team to try and play goalie, but you could only play goalie once a year, and I remember every time I would go in there, it'd be seven goals on seven shots, but that never brought me down.”
Getting scored on — repeatedly — didn’t discourage him. It fueled him. That mental edge is something he now emphasizes above all else. “Just the mental side. I honestly have said this to a lot of goalies that I've worked with in everything that it's I think, a goalie is 90 to 95% mental. The rest is physical. So I just say like the mental exhaustion of playing and just showing up every single day and doing the right things, even when it is hard to.”
As his career has progressed, even his pre-game routines have evolved. Superstitions have faded, replaced by simplicity and family support. “I've gotten away from a lot of them, as I've gotten older. I just have my nap and my routines in the rink. Just like warm-ups that I kind of stick to, but nothing in particular. I always change up my pre-game meal. I always am doing that stuff, but that's thanks to my wife. She's the one cooking. I get home, and it's made.”
When reflecting on his journey, Smith doesn’t point to a single save or championship moment. Instead, he looks at longevity and balance. “I would just accumulate it all to just my career, like playing for 10 years. Never, when I was a kid, would I have imagined that I could have a career like this. So I would say that, definitely graduating from university too, while I've been playing. That was a pretty big accomplishment.”
From allowing seven goals on seven shots to building a decade-long professional career, Smith’s story is less about perfection and more about perseverance. Through heavier schedules, chaotic traffic in front of the net, unpredictable knuckle pucks, and the daily mental grind, he has built his game on compete level and composure.
For Jake Smith, goaltending has always been about one thing: showing up — mentally and physically — every single day. During the course of this season, Smith appeared in eight games for the Nailers and posted 1.72 GAA and .943 save percentage. Since leaving Wheeling, Smith is now with Anger of Ligue Magnus in France. For Angers, Smith has dressed in 14 games and has posted a 2.28 GAA and a .920 save percentage.
- Samantha Wismer/Olde City Sports Network
- Photo Credit: Stacey Gramlich/Olde City Sports Network
