Last Friday, our site released an article stating when the Winnipeg Jets NCAA prospects would be starting their seasons and what to watch out for. One player we profiled was Nathan Smith who attends the Minnesota State University (Mankato).
The Winnipeg Jets‘ third-round pick of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft was coming into this year after two impressive seasons during his freshman and sophomore years. He has had at least 25 points in both of those seasons and was looking to build on this with an impressive junior year.
The one thing we highlighted about Smith’s opening games of the season was the opposition. Smith and his Mavericks teammates were starting their season with a pair of road games against the reigning national champions and the team that started the season as the number one ranked team in the country, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Minutemen.
Winnipeg Jets prospect, Nathan Smith got off to a fantastic start to begin the 2021-2022 season
In the opening minute of the first game of the season on Friday night, Smith and the Mavericks got off to a dream start as they scored a powerplay goal. Smith had the secondary assist on the first tally of the season.
In the third period, Smith was able to add his second assist of the night on Julian Napravnik’s goal to extend the Mavericks’ lead to two goals. The Mavericks were then able to hold onto their lead as they completed the 2-0 shutout to spoil UMass-Amherst’s home opener.
Saturday’s game started much different than Friday’s game as the Minutemen had a 3-0 lead in the dying stages of the second period, but then Smith started the Mavericks comeback.
Smith scored his first goal of the year to decrease Massachusetts lead to two goals going into the third period. Then just under five minutes into the final frame, Smith scored again to make it a one-goal game.
Minnesota State was then able to equalize the game at three and then, in the final ten minutes of the game, they were able to take the lead on a Jake Livingstone goal assisted by Smith. The Mavericks then scored two more goals in the next three minutes to propel them to a 6-3 victory.
In total, the Mavericks scored an impressive six unanswered goals in Saturday’s game, in which Smith had three points.
This five-point weekend put Smith in an early tie as the top point scorer in the nation, but he and Minnesota State-Mankato have another tough weekend ahead of them.
This upcoming weekend (Friday and Saturday), Smith and Mankato, who are ranked as the second-best team in the country, host a two-game set against St. Cloud State, who are the newly ranked number one team in college hockey. These games between the top two ranked teams in collegiate hockey should be extremely fun to watch.
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Do you predict that Nathan Smith will be a future NHL regular for the Winnipeg Jets? Leave your comments below!
*All Stats Provided by College Hockey Inc.*