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Britni Smith’s goal after graduating from St. Lawrence University’s women’s ice hockey program in 2010 was to become a physical therapist. So, the Port Perry, Ontario, native returned to Canada for the next four years and pursued opportunities in sports training.

Simultaneously, Smith played with the Toronto Furies of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and joined the University of Toronto women’s ice hockey program as an assistant coach. During that time, she shifted her career aspirations away from physical therapy and toward coaching. Smith got her break in 2014 after connecting with Matt Desrosiers, Clarkson University’s women’s head coach.

“I got an opportunity at Clarkson, and honestly, probably the best decision I’ve made was to go that direction and get into coaching,” Smith said. “ I think that’s been my true calling.”

This led to a storied eight-year tenure with the Golden Knights as an assistant coach, helping lead them to back-to-back National Championships in 2017 and 2018. The success brought Smith to Syracuse in 2022, where she’s now in her third year as a head coach. With the Orange (14-21-0, 11-9-0 Atlantic Hockey America) amid an AHA Postseason run and chasing their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022, Smith’s playoff pedigree is set to power the program going forward.

SU’s last NCAA Tournament appearance came under Paul Flanagan’s tutelage. In his 14th and final year helming Syracuse before retiring, it won the now-defunct College Hockey America before losing 4-0 to Quinnipiac in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

At the time, Smith said she feared her window to become a head coach was closing. So, she began reaching out to other programs for head coaching positions. With her connection to Flanagan from playing under him at St. Lawrence, Smith jumped at the opportunity at SU and was hired about a month after Flanagan retired.

Throughout her eight-year tenure as an assistant coach at Clarkson, Britni Smith won two NCAA titles. Photo courtesy of Clarkson Athletics

Before becoming the Orange’s first head coach in program history, Flanagan spent the first nine years of his career at St. Lawrence. From 2006-10, Smith became one of the best defenders Flanagan coached, earning All-Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey Second-Team honors twice.

Though Smith’s experiences prepared her to lead a program, she didn’t know where to start or even if she wanted to become a head coach.

But when Smith was offered an assistant coaching job by UT’s head coach Vicky Sunohara in 2010, her coaching career took off. However, the pathway was difficult to chase in Canada.

So, Smith connected with coaches across the northeast, hoping to stay close to where she grew up. Clarkson stood out to her as a top landing spot because it had just won its first National Championship and collected a then-program-high 31 wins.

“There was nothing that was making me think, ‘Am I making the right call right now?’  I was very confident that was exactly what I needed and wanted to do,” Smith said of chasing a coaching career.

But Clarkson underwent significant changes in the offseason. Desrosiers’ wife, Shannon, who co-head-coached the team, left because she was eight months pregnant. Smith was tasked to fill her void.

Desrosiers’ confidence in Smith stemmed from when he coached against her while she was at St. Lawrence. He recalls Smith being an intelligent player who always served as a threat against the Golden Knights, a quality that continued upon joining Clarkson.

“We dove right in. I threw a lot of responsibility to (Smith) right away, and she’s someone that was able to grasp onto it quickly,” Desrosiers said.

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Additionally, Smith quickly honed in on recruiting, quickly identifying talent that fit Clarkson’s championship culture. Its first recruiting class, with Smith assisting, featured six freshmen. Four became professionals.

Cassidy Warner was one of them, leading to a career with the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League.

“You knew you could always call her no matter the hour, and she’d be able to help you,” Warner said of Smith. “Having her there, you knew she would always support you no matter what.”

In Smith’s first year, the Golden Knights went 24-11-3 but fell to Boston College in the NCAA Quarterfinals.

In year two, Smith stepped into a larger coaching role for the first time.

“She grew when her confidence grew,” Desrosiers said. “Just getting more and more comfortable as a coach. Being a leader. Having a voice. Seeing the results from it.”

With Clarkson accumulating a 207-60-26 record with Smith on its coaching staff, Warner said she brought a calming but knowledgeable presence to Clarkson’s defensive core.

As a standout defender at St. Lawrence, Smith played in 146 games, recording 74 points (20 goals, 54 assists). During her senior year, she tallied the third-most points in the country by a defenseman, posting eight goals and 17 assists.

Clarkson’s unit began to see how Smith’s playing experience impacted her coaching. Savannah Harmon, a defender for the Golden Knights from 2014-18 who became a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist, took skills from Smith’s teachings, eventually becoming one of the nation’s best defenders.

“(Britni) can pick out little parts of the game, especially in the (younger athletes), and progress their skills,” Harmon said. “Her coaching and just the opportunities I was given definitely helped round out my game.”

Smith’s third season was a standout campaign, culminating in Clarkson earning the No. 1 seed in the ECAC and a No. 3 national ranking. It marked the beginning of Smith building a championship pedigree.

After advancing to the National Championship, Clarkson faced No. 1 Wisconsin. Despite losing twice to the Badgers that season and being labeled as underdogs, Clarkson triumphed, securing their second National Championship in program history with a commanding 3-0 shutout victory.

“We just had a standard of excellence every day. We knew that to be the best at the end of the year, you couldn’t just wait until the end of February,” Warner said.

The following year, the Golden Knights again earned the No. 1 seed in the ECAC Tournament, cruised to another conference championship and reached the national-title game.

Facing Colgate, a rematch of the ECAC Championship, the Golden Knights were again entering overtime after beating Mercyhurst and Ohio State in the quarterfinal and semifinal, respectively. And again, they came out on top. Freshman Élizabeth Giguère sealed the trophy with a game-winning goal.

The feeling was surreal, Smith said, but it took time to settle in.

“Even an hour after (we won), we finally took a breath, and we were like, ‘Holy crap, we just did it again,’” Smith said.

The win solidified Smith’s playoff success at Clarkson. In her final four seasons, the Golden Knights made the NCAA Tournament three more times, but Smith began thinking about her career after Clarkson and looked for head coaching positions.

Smith’s Clarkson success set the stage for her to take over SU in 2022. However, her first two seasons at Syracuse saw mixed results, with the Orange posting 17 wins and 48 losses, including just one conference tournament appearance.

But 2024-25 has been much closer to Smith’s Clarkson tenure. With an overtime win over Robert Morris in the AHA Quarterfinals, the Orange are two wins away from a conference championship appearance — as Smith’s experience has helped Syracuse set the stage for a bright future under her guidance.

Published on February 27, 2025 at 12:32 am

Contact: jordankimball28@gmail.com | @JordanKimball_