Smith, Corey

BORN NEW YEAR'S DAY 1976, in Adelaide South Australia, the son of Rusty Smith who was state coaching director of ice hockey and operator of a hockey school at Blackwood. He began in the local league with the Ice Mice in 1982 when he was 6 and joined the Falcons in 1988, the Club in which his father played. He won the President's Cup (U13) that year representing South Australia, then another back-to-back in '89.

The next season he won the De Fris Trophy (U15) and again went back-to-back in '91. He won four straight Tange Trophies (U18), 1990 to '93; five Brown Trophies (U21); and three Goodall Cups —'95, '97, and 2009, the centenary year. In 1992, he played the first Adelaide father-son A-Grade games, and he represented Australia in the National Youth Team (U18) in 1993 and '94 when his father was coach.

Still following in his father's footsteps, he embarked on a coaching career in national development camps for Peewees, coaching state teams in junior age bands, on-and-off over 25 seasons since 1993. He coached the Falcons B-grade to Premierships in the late-90s. A player and player-coach of A-grade premierships, he was also coach of the State Brown Trophy (U21) and Ginsberg Trophy (U13) teams (2016). He joined the Adelaide Avalanche in the AIHL and was replacement coach in its last half-season in 2008, after the sacking by the team owner of NHLer, Steve McKenna. In 2017, he coached the State Tange Team, the IHSA Junior League, and he still played with the Falcons in the South Australian Premier League.

He helped start inline hockey in South Australia to provide extra training for the National Youth Ice Hockey Team in 1992-3. A representative player for Australia at the IIHF Inline World Championships in 1996, he captained the Australian senior men's team at the FIRS Worlds in Zell am See, Austria, in 1997, and in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1998. He coached the National Junior Inline Team and played at the Oceania championships in 2007, 2014-15.

In 2013, he was coach of the Australian inline team at the AAU Junior Olympics in Anaheim, USA, and in June 2017, he participated in the Inline Masters World Cup in Italy. He married Sarah and raised a young family. His hockey career has now spanned 35 years and his family involvement in the sport has entered its third successive generation.