Jake Smith made Iowa Heartlanders history, becoming the franchise’s first player to earn Inglasco ECHL Player of the Week honors.

Not bad for a guy who’d been let go by another team earlier in the season.

After a circuitous run in juniors that saw him with four different teams in five seasons, the 24-year-old native of Pickering, Ontario began his pro career in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) in 2019-20, splitting that year between the Evansville ThunderBolts and an Oberliga team in Germany. Last season was spent entirely with the SPHL’s Birmingham Bulls before an opportunity in the “E” finally arose heading into this year with the Kansas City Mavericks.

But, after being held off the scoresheet in his first five games there, he was let go in early December. 

“I was a little nervous after that, but I kind of bet on myself. I have my entire career,” Smith told FloHockey. “I know what I’m capable of, I know I can play at this level. I’ve always had to work, and that’s always been my mindset, that my work ethic is going to be the best out there. It doesn’t matter if things are going well, if things aren’t going well, my work ethic stands and good things usually happen.”

Did they ever.

The expansion Heartlanders claimed Smith on waivers the next day, and he’s been a revelation ever since—he’s posted nine goals and seven assists in his first 15 games, including a six-point week that helped earn league honors.

“I didn’t really have the greatest start to the year, played a little bit in KC, but after getting in here, it was about finding my game,” he said. “The last two, three weeks—really, since the break—things have been going my way, and it’s been good. I’m pretty happy with how I’ve been playing, but obviously not satisfied. It’s only the halfway mark, so there’s tons of games left.”

It’s simply been a matter of finding the right opportunity, with the Heartlanders able to provide more ice time for the talented winger that’s allowed him to flourish.

“I’ve been getting more of an opportunity here to play my style of game, play the game I play,” he said. “Both coaching staffs in KC and over here have been great, but here, I’ve got the assistant coach, Derek Damon, and the video coach, Amir (Gulati), they’ve been awesome with me and working through video every single day. There’s been a lot of correction, which I feel like I need in stepping up to this league coming from the ‘SP.’ I’ve just got to keep doing it.”

Smith was a proven scorer at the SPHL level, considered to be an “A” league or the lowest level of the minors, but that often doesn’t translate once a step up is made, at least not right away.

An offensive-minded player with a hard and accurate shot, he’s surprised even himself a bit with how well he’s fit into Iowa’s system, all while maintaining a defensively responsible game at the other end of the ice.

“If you can’t do that in this game, you can’t play anywhere,” he said. “But, as soon as you get out of the defensive zone, you have the freedom to do your thing and play your game, and that’s what helped me the most. I am surprising myself a bit, but I was running camps back home doing hockey academy for four or five hours a day, so I was on the ice all day long, working out. I bet on myself, I knew I could do it, but it was getting the opportunity. I’m very thankful for the ice I’ve been getting.”