Craig Smith has never been a rough-and-tumble sort, so when the freshman right winger for the UW men's hockey team was involved in a dangerous, reckless play against Minnesota State-Mankato Oct. 24, it was surprising.

"He doesn't have that history,'' Badgers coach Mike Eaves said of Smith, who averaged one minor penalty a game last season at Waterloo of the U.S. Hockey League. "He's not that kind of player.''

Smith was assessed a 5-minute major and game disqualification penalty for checking Mankato left winger Geoff Irwin from behind. Smith appeared to be moving at top speed when he launched Irwin into the boards, causing a separated shoulder for Irwin. The hit was deemed dangerous enough that, in addition to sitting out a game due to the DQ, another game was added by the school with the blessing of the WCHA.

Smith, from Madison, played on one of the top lines with sophomore left winger Jordy Murray and sophomore center Derek Stepan. Smith also skated on one of the power plays and had two assists in the first four games.

Smith watched as UW whipped New Hampshire 4-1 and 6-1 in a non-conference series over the weekend. He's expected back in the lineup Friday and Saturday when the Badgers host Minnesota in a WCHA series at the Kohl Center.

Question: How difficult was last weekend?

Answer: "It was pretty tough. A pretty tough thing. I've watched my fair share of games at the Kohl Center and watching another one -- especially being suspended -- it hurt. It was tough. But the boys played well and I learned my lesson.''

Q: You've never been that type of player in your career, so does one incident call for a two-game suspension? Did the punishment fit the crime, so to speak?

A: "Yeah. Obviously it wasn't that good of a good situation where I was on the ice. I was just playing hard. It's part of the game. It happens. There's nothing you can really do about it, but move on. It was out of character. It was a bad situation. I learned my lesson from it.''

Q: Did anything trigger it? Was there a hit or cheap shot you were trying to answer?

A: "Absolutely not. It was just a play. I was going in too hard on him. There's obviously situations that I've looked at where I could have done something different. It was definitely not intended at all.''

Q: Have you seen a video replay of the hit?

A: "I watched it once. I haven't watched it again. It was tough to watch because it's not me. I'm just trying to get past it.''

Q: Have you reached out to Irwin?

A: "Somewhere along the line, it will probably happen. I have a buddy on that team that I've kind of communicated with (former Waterloo teammate Eriah Hayes).''

Q: When you move on from this, will it be harder for you to straddle that line between playing effectively hard and smart? Won't this experience be in the back of your mind at some level?

A: "Not for me. I'm going to play hard. I'm going to play the same. Obviously now when I look back at it, I could have done little things different, but (with) my style of play, I'm not going to play any different. Playing the way I have has gotten me here.''

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