He continued: "You know, it was just kind of different when you hear certain things like 'Hey, you don't belong in this sport,' or 'You should be playing basketball,' stuff like that. For the most part when I was younger, it would hurt me. I used to come home and cry alone because I didn't want to tell my parents. I was afraid of what they were going to do.
"It only made me tougher," he said.
Despite all that, Smereck continued to develop and advance. After a quick taste of the NAHL, he was drafted into the USHL in 2014, where he played one season before transitioning to the OHL.
He remembers one particular incident from his time at that level. It involved verbal harassment from an opposing coach and two players.
"There were a couple of racial slurs between those three people," he said. "And I kind of freaked out on the ice and got into a big argument with the ref. I was the one who actually ended up getting a penalty.
"I was basically crying because I was so angry. It was coming from an adult, a back-up goalie on the bench, and a player on the ice. It was kind of like 'Wow, I really don't know what to do here.' A tough situation, especially when a grown man is involved, a coach in the league."
And there was no reprimand of the coach or the players.
"I was on the bus after the game crying, kind of freaking out," Smereck said. "My teammates were talking to me, and I ended up talking to our GM. It got to the league, I believe, and nothing happened. It's kind of hard to be put into those situations and have them not taken seriously. It's tough."
Smereck enjoyed plenty of success in the OHL. Ahead of the 2017-18 season, he was named the team captain for the Flint (MI) Firebirds.
"That was a pretty honorable moment for me," he said. "A big moment in my life. It was the first time that I had actually been a captain. So, it was kind of cool, and at the same time it taught me a lot. It helped me with growing as a person, as a teammate, and just life all around."