New Yorker Bides His Time

This has been the first summer Neil Smith has missed a hockey camp since he was a child. He has been in an NHL camp every year since 1981.

Smith, the former New York Ranger general manager and currently a consultant for the Ducks, refused to leave New York in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

He will join the Ducks for their season opener Thursday in Boston, but was scheduled to fly to Southern California for the Ducks’ camp Sept. 19. Instead, he remained in Manhattan to be with his son, Viktor.

“It’s been strange not to be in camp, having coffee and evaluating players every morning,” Smith said. “But there was no way I was leaving here. It’s hard to articulate why. But nothing was going to pull me away from Viktor.”

Smith is one of the many in Manhattan who have been affected by the tragedy. The firehouse three blocks from his home lost 11 firefighters. Smith has donated supplies and food for the families of the victims.

In the days that followed the attack, Smith went to the armory, where the families of victims had gathered, searching for news. He offered his Manhattan home as a place to stay, but found no one in need of shelter.

“Look, compared to what others are doing here, I’m out on Pluto,” Smith said. “I’m a pebble on a sandy beach.

“You want to help in some way. New York is a loud place, people walking the streets, pushing and shoving, honking horns. I got to 26th and Lexington [and] there was absolute silence. I saw thousands of people, but it was silent, like a church. Just to talk about this is enormously painful.”

Smith, who has lived in Manhattan 13 years, was dropping his son off at school when the first airplane struck the World Trade Center. He learned the extent of the tragedy when he returned home.

“All I could think of was my son,” Smith said. “I went back to get him, and people were just walking around because all the transportation was shut down. Everyone just seemed to be wandering, not knowing what to do.”

Smith went to Boston for the memorial service for King scout Ace Bailey. Another friend, with whom Smith plays recreation hockey, escaped the World Trade Center in time. “He got out after the first plane hit,” Smith said. “He said he sat curled up in a nearby building. I have heard so many terrible stories like that. Everyone has been affected.”

Coach Bryan Murray has more or less finalized the Duck roster and is simply waiting to see the status of injured players before making final cuts.

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, out because of an injured groin, worked out briefly with the team. Enforcer Jim Cummins, out a week because of an infection in his right ankle, hopes to skate today. Marty McInnis, who has a groin injury, will play Thursday.