The two have known each other for decades.
Coached against each other for years, shared ideas and coaching skillsets with Basketball New Brunswick and then, for something completely different, along came the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association’s Miramichi Her-Icanes.
Miramichi took the MWBA by storm in 2023, joining as an expansion team, pushing the league to seven teams.
Brittany Sullivan was the head coach that memorable inaugural season before the hometown lawyer opted to become involved in the management/organizational part of the MWBA team for the 2025 season.
That’s where the old friendship came in.
Her-Icanes management veteran Jimmy Watters turned to Neil Smith last winter with the question of coaching the Miramichi entrant.
Smith, recently retired from Basketball New Brunswick as its technical director for years, took some time to think about joining the MWBA.
He was coaching youth teams with 506 Elite in the Moncton region, but then figured what the heck? Coaching is in his blood.
Smith agreed to guide the ‘Canes.
It turned out pretty well.
Miramichi became the first New Brunswick-based team to win the PRO•LINE Legacy Cup championship, the Her-Icanes downing Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Preston’s Lake City 56ers in a stirring overtime win in Fredericton back in late June.
‘I had obviously followed the MWBA since its launch and knew many of the organizers, coaches and certainly the players,’ said Smith, who lives in Grand Digue, NB. ‘I have kept my hands in the game since retiring, but it’s tough to get coaching out of the system. Jimmy, Brittany, Whitney Henderson and the Her-Icanes have been a remarkable product on Miramichi. It was great to get involved and only worry about coaching. The organization has done an amazing job of bringing people on board to help.’
Smith had to change some of his coaching habits to fit the MWBA, but at the end of the day, the game has two hoops.
‘With the group assembled in Miramichi – and teams across the league are the same – there’s so much talent and experience, that you’re not going to wow them with X’s and O’s and something they haven’t seen before,’ said Smith. ‘You treat players at this level differently. They are coming from work, from school or from taking care of kids, so it’s a different mindset. The competition and that will to compete doesn’t change. That’s what I loved about the league. The commitment was amazing. You just have to be willing to make changes, sometimes within a minute’s notice, when life gets in the way. But that’s the design of the league and we all make it work.’
The Her-Icanes had tied Lake City atop the regular season standings with 8-2 records.
Lake City earned the nod for the pennant win based on a win during head-to-head play.
‘There’s a reason Lake City has been to two straight final appearances because that’s a good squad,’ said Smith. ‘There were ebbs and flows in the final game where both teams were thinking ‘it’s ours now,’ and then thinking ‘oh, oh, they’re coming back.’ It was a fun atmosphere.’
Smith is uncertain with his role next season.
He enjoys working with the next wave with 506 Elite and he still keeps an eye on BNB age class teams.
‘I’ve been so fortunate to meet so many people over the years through basketball and that list was added to this year in the MWBA,’ Smith said. ‘We had a remarkable year with remarkable women who came together to win a championship. We had an awful lot of fun. I wouldn’t change a thing.’
– Neil Smith guided Miramichi to an MWBA title this season.