Mark Lee is the first to admit that the St. Mary's boys hockey team is his baby. For 37 years, the Lynn, Mass., police officer was bench boss until he announced his retirement in March.
Finding a suitable replacement to carry his vision forward was a necessity.
St. Mary's did that, announcing the Spartans' next head coach is Matt Smith, who's been an assistant on Lee's staff since 2015. Before that, Smith was an assistant from 2004-06 and has spent 23 years around hockey, including time playing at Norwich University.
While Lee wasn't a part of the hiring process, he gave his assistant a strong recommendation.
"He is a student of the game," Lee said of Smith. "He has a unique knack of teaching the game to these kids. I've watched him over the years and he studies the game. He's somebody that works really hard to have an edge in knowledge."
It's an edge he and the Spartans will need. Lee's teams consistently faced a difficult schedule and that won't change under Smith.
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"I believe Matt Smith is the right guy that will get [St. Mary's] to the next level," Lee said. "They're very, very competitive with everybody. There's always St. John's Preps and BC Highs and Pope Francis and Hinghams and all those teams. I think we're right up there with them and I think this guy — we'll improve with him there."
Smith runs All In Hockey, which is a hockey school focused on players who want to play high school and prep school hockey.
His life is all about hockey, which is something that's become ever more prevalent in coaches hired in both the high school and prep school ranks.
"He's a full-time hockey guy," Lee said. "And that's what you want."
Smith played under Lee at St. Mary's, graduating in 1996 and posting 187 points. After playing hockey at Norwich, he spent time in the army.
When Smith came back to St. Mary's in 2015, the job was originally just for a defensive coach but he morphed into an all-around coach quickly.
"He's just a special guy," Lee said. "The way he has the ability to teach this game to the kids, he puts hours and hours and hours into film."
When Smith skates out for tryouts next season, his son, Matt Jr., will be a sophomore goalie on the team who will get serious consideration to be the starter after star netminder Anthony Palmer left for Avon Old Farms.
The Spartans went 12-6-3 last season, falling to Catholic Memorial in the Division 1 Round of 16. With only four seniors on the roster, Smith will get a good amount of this season's roster back next winter.
It wasn't too long ago (2017) that the Spartans won the Division 1 state championship. Lee knows he had more left in the tank to continue coaching at the MIAA level.
But something deeper was more important.
"I didn't want to be one of those coaches that waited until the well was dry and then say 'see ya'," Lee said. "It was important to me to get somebody that felt the same way about it. And Matt is very much about that."
