Eric Levine didn’t know about Gary “Suitcase” Smith, but maybe he should have.
Smith earned his nickname with 15 different stops during a 16-year career as a pro hockey goaltender. Levine is also a netminder who has been with 15 professional organizations. The difference is that the 30-year-old has racked up his total in just six seasons.
Toledo, Ohio; Peoria, Ill.; Moline, Ill.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Allen, Texas; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Anchorage, Alaska; Salt Lake City, Utah; Pensacola, Fla.; Shreveport, La.; Loveland, Colo.; Rockford, Ill.; Cleveland, Ohio.
That’s not the itinerary from some bus tour of the central United States, with side trips to Alaska and Florida. That’s where Levine, a native of Wheeling, Ill, has been since leaving the stability of four years at Robert Morris University, just outside Pittsburgh.
And yes, you’re right. That's just 14 stops.
The 15th is St. John’s, where Levine was the Newfoundland Growlers’ third goaltender during the team’s march to the Kelly Cup and ECHL crown.
And according to Levine, it’s by far the best place he’s been in his hockey career.
“From Day 1, I knew this was special. The way you get treated by the staff, the higher-ups, the trainers, everybody. This is beyond what you expect in the ECHL, and I have a pretty good idea about what the league is like,” said Levine, who was with six other ECHL teams, a couple of them for more than one stint, before hooking on with the Growlers.
“We’re spoiled. I know the (ECHL) was new to the people here and that this team has a lot of rookies here who wouldn’t know what to expect (in the ECHL), so I tell everyone how this organization is first class, already the best.”
Of course, that’s all easy to say when there are drops of champagne in your beard, the residue of the dressing-room celebration with the championship trophy, but Levine was saying it long before the Growlers began the playoffs.
He believed it in early January, when he was brought in for a couple of weeks after both Eamon McAdam and Michael Garteig were on recall to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. He felt strongly enough to march into then-head coach Ryane Clowe’s office and tell it to Clowe directly.
“But there is more to it than the way they treat you or the way the organization is operated,” said Levine. “This team just had chemistry. The players are selfless, everyone pulling on the same rope. You’ll hear that a lot in hockey, but I’ve been with a lot of teams and it’s not always like that.
“The character in that dressing room? Phenomenal. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it helped make this team a winner.”
Garteig played every minute for the Growlers during the playoffs after having been the team’s workhorse during the regular season, while McAdam got into 19 games with Newfoundland when he wasn’t with the Marlies. But Newfoundland was also well-served by fill-in netminders. Between them, Levine, Brad Barone and Mario Culina were 10-2 in a dozen starts, with a collective 2.51 goals-against average.
“I didn’t know anything about this team until John Snowden phoned me back in January and said they had claimed me off waivers (from the Fort Wayne Komets),” said Levine, who went 3-1 during his January stay with Newfoundland before being reclaimed by Fort Wayne.
“I didn’t know what I was getting into, didn’t really know where I was going, I didn’t know it then, but that turned out to be one of the best days in my career.”
Besides the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Quad Cities Mallards and ECHL’s Komets and Growlers, Levine also spent some regular-season time in Cleveland as a backup with the AHL’s Monsters, experiencing all three levels of minor pro hockey in one season.
But when McAdam was called up to the Marlies again just before the start of the playoffs, it happened to coincide with the Komets placing Levine on waivers once more. The Growlers claimed him to, at first, back up Garteig and then to stay on as insurance when McAdam returned.
The Kelly Cup run with Newfoundland happily topped off a season that had started with trepidation.
“I had a knee injury last year and I didn’t even know if I’d play hockey again. I was off for nine months and I didn’t skate at all in the summer,” said Levine. “I ended up going to Quad Cities in the SP to play for a former teammate (Dave Pszenyczny) and I had no clue if I’d last even in a week. I was just happy to be able to put my skates.
“One thing led to another, then another, then another and I wind up here. I’m really not sure how the hell it happened, but I’m glad it did.”
Twitter: @telybrendan
