KADE GATES 

Cody Smuk will be known as a warrior on and off the ice. After 13 months of fighting  cancer, the former University of Saskatchewan Huskies hockey player ultimately lost his battle with the disease and passed away on June 25.

Smuk’s battle with cancer began in May 2014 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and a mass tumor was also found in his lung.

As a four year WHL player, Smuk spent parts of those years with the Chilliwack Bruins, Lethbridge Hurricanes and the Moose Jaw Warriors. In all, Smuk played 272 games registering 23 goals, 49 assists and 72 points. While he was never a big time goal scorer, he was a solid third liner and an iron man who rarely missed games. After his WHL career ended, Smuk came home to Saskatoon to start his education at the U of S.

For the next four years, Smuk played hockey with the Huskies while working towards a business management degree. Smuk finished his career at the U of S with 20 points in 89 games while having a plus-minus rating of -1.

Smuk was a hardworking depth player on the team and was looked on fondly by all his Huskie teammates, including former captain Matt Delahey.

“He was exactly what it means to be a Huskie, how he did everything,” Delahey told The StarPhoenix.

Smuk was a member of the 2014 team that went to the University Cup and took the Alberta Golden Bears to the brink before falling in the finals, finishing with a silver medal.

Current Huskie forward Matthew Spafford reiterated Delahey’s comments.

“He’s a little bit of my mentor from across the room. He was my fashion stylist and everything else; he was just a good guy to have in the room,” Spafford said to The StarPhoenix.

The Huskies final hockey home games of the 2014-15 season in late January were used to collect for the “Marty’s Men” foundation. Marty was Smuk’s nickname and all proceeds helped him with the cost of medical bills and other expenses. Money from food and clothing sales went to the foundation and raffle prizes also contributed money to the Canadian Cancer Society. The Huskies wore special jerseys for the weekend set of games that were also sold to raise money.

When Smuk was diagnosed with cancer, his fiancée Stephanie Vause started a gofundme.com page to help Smuk, who was too sick to work. The page was very popular, with $116,705 donated to the fund to help pay for special treatments and living expenses, though Smuk vowed that half the money donated was given to a cancer research charity.

Smuk and his fiancée put off their wedding while Smuk was sick. The couple won a dream wedding giveaway worth over $28,000 through Saskatoon’s RSVP Event Design, yet put the wedding on hold as they wanted to focus on Smuk’s recovery.

Smuk’s battle with cancer brought him to Germany for vaccine therapy, as chemotherapy wasn’t working. Specialists in Germany took a sample of the tumor in Smuk’s chest, which was inoperable, and created a vaccine out of it to attempt to combat the tumor.

Though Smuk is no longer with us, he is remembered by people both in the game of hockey and outside of it. The strength and confidence that Smuk showed through his toughest test inspired all that knew him and revealed much of the character that made Smuk the man he was.

Smuk’s funeral took place on June 30 and instead of flowers, the Smuk family asked that memorial donations be made to the Choc’ la Cure Campaign online at choclacure.com, in support of the Saskatoon Cancer Centre.

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Image: Jeremy Britz/Graphics Editor