From there, all Austin wanted to do was play hockey. Chuck and his wife, DeeAnna, enrolled young Austin in an eight-week summer hockey program followed by a full-season program at Valley Ranch, and he showed a natural scoring touch right from the beginning. According to his father, Austin led the team in scoring his first three years of hockey, spanning three different levels and age groups, and he continued to progress through the various levels of youth hockey in the area.
The elder Smith incurred the expensive costs of outfitting two young hockey players and paid for Austin's countless travel team trips -- Chuck recalls going to Chicago nine times in one season with one of Austin's teams -- but took his young sons to as many Dallas Stars games as he could afford, watching them become die-hard fans of their hometown team.
It was a great experience and I turned into a big Stars fan, especially during the Stanley Cup season in After continuing his development in the Alliance Bulldogs hockey program, Smith got his big break when he was playing at a Midget AA national tournament at the age of His outstanding play was recognized by Chris Baudo, the head hockey coach at The Gunnery, a prestigious prep school in Washington, Connecticut. Baudo was very interested in having Austin come play at The Gunnery, and he was able to convince him to come visit the campus with his parents.
It's a really good school in a very strong league and he'd get a lot of exposure, so we all agreed his chances of getting a college scholarship would be much better there. Smith excelled both on the ice and in the classroom at The Gunnery for two years, and in , led the club in scoring with 43 points 23 goals and 20 assists.
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View all Our Sites. The native of Corpus Christi finished his year career in with goals and 1, points in 1, career games and was a first-ballot inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame in His induction came one year after being given the same honor by the U.
Hockey Hall of Fame in Leetch moved away from Texas when he was an infant but would go on to be selected ninth-overall by the New York Rangers in He stayed with the Blueshirts for nearly 17 seasons, serving as an alternate captain for the Original Six franchise from to with a three-season stretch as captain from to But it was the campaign that Leetch is most remembered for.
Seth Jones became the highest-drafted Texas-born player when he went fourth-overall to the Nashville Predators in
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