An easy interview, as Brian had plenty of practise answering questions at the quiz night this should be no problem! Brian Smith has three nicknames, ‘Smitty’, ‘Killer’ – for getting into one fight against Solihull earlier in the season, and the ‘Baby Faced Assassin’!

Born 10^th June 1979 in Newmarket, Ontario, this 19-year-old Gemini comes from a family of 5 brothers and one sister, who now live in Guelph, Ontario. For those who didn’t get all the answers right at the recent quiz-night, Ontario is one of the ten Canadian states!

Brian started playing hockey at the age of 5, for Guelph Juniors, and says that two of his younger brothers also play hockey and would like to come to play in Britain.

So, why does he wear number 44? "Because it looks nice! No, seriously it’s because Todd Bertuzzi wears that number, he used to play in the OHL and now plays in the NHL."

If Brian wasn’t playing hockey he’d play "Soccer – you call it football don’t you? Or I’d like to go back to school to study Sports Therapy. Physical Ed was my best subject in school." He has also played ‘soccer’ for Guelph Royal’s under 19 team in his spare time.

But you can’t play hockey forever, "After hockey I’d like to go back to Guelph University to study to be a physiotherapist."

Brian’s favourite team, after his beloved Hawks, are the Toronto Maple Leaves, so no surprise that his favourite place in the world is "Maple Leaf Gardens, but I haven’t been to that many places!"

So what about Blackburn then? "There are good fans here, I’ve never played infront of this many people before," he also added that it’s important that the fans cheer the team along, "The fans can give us an extra advantage and be like an extra player for us."

I asked him for 5 words that would describe himself – here he struggled! "Quiet, hard-working, good sense of humour, honest and reliable." I added that modest might be one, it took at least five minutes to think of these.

His worst hockey injury came when he broke both bones in his right forearm. "It was February 15^th 1996, I still have a metal plate and screws in there," he told me, "but I got through the metal detector at the airport alright!"

I then asked Brian how he’s coping in a new country and away from his parents. "I’m coping ok without my parents but I need my mum to do my ironing!" He then continued to tell me about his footballing allegiances, "I’d have to support Manchester United, my mum supports United and my dad supports City. I’d also like to say happy anniversary to my parents, it was their 25^th anniversary on November 3^rd."

Away from hockey, Brian say’s his ideal night out would be a meal in a restaurant and then onto a night-club or home for a movie. Here are a few of his favourites: -

Food: Pepperoni & Cheese Pizza – from Caesar’s Pizza’s across from King George’s Hall – (that’s a plug so we can get a good discount!)

Drink: Root Beer – does anybody know where you can buy this around Blackburn?

Music: Dance
Film: Happy Gilmore
Car: Jeep (Is this another plug?)
Admired Player: Doug Gilmore
Best player played with: Andrew Dickson
Best player played against: Todd Bertuzzi
Biggest influence: His parents
Person: Girlfriend Julie – "We’ve been together 5 weeks, since October 7^th, we met in Utopia in Blackburn."

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