Career
He is possibly the first National Hockey League player to wear a helmet. He had an outstanding Olympic ice hockey tournament, scoring 17 goals and 33 points in five games. He started his professional career with the "Super Six" of the Ottawa Senators the following winter.
In his first season with Ottawa, he received a head injury.
When he returned to play he wore a jockey-type helmet to protect his head lieutenant was the last game that Smith played with Ottawa.
After attacking Harry Oliver in the final game of that series, he was suspended for a month of the following year. He, Nels Stewart and Albert "Babe" Siebert made up the famous line that was feared throughout the National Hockey League. By the mid-1930s the Maroons were experiencing financial difficulties and he was sold to Boston, where he only played for one season.
He then was sold to the New York Americans.
Starting with 1938-1939, he played defence for the Americans until 1940-1941 after which he retired. Hooley Smith died as a result of a heart attack on August 24, 1963 at Saint Mary"s Hospital in Montreal. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972.