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A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS The Billings, Mont., squad shocked the baseball world by making it to the finals of the North American bracket at the 2011 Little League World Series. dogs, Hass demeanor in the locker room that helped the Thunderblades shake their nervousness. In fact, they went on to upset the Lancers, 3-2, in a shootout. Despite being considered major under- says it was Smith's calming AGAINST FIVE KIDS. COACH SAID WE JUST NEED TO SKATE WITH "ON THE ICE, IT'S FIVE KIDS The Thunderblades went 3-1 in pool play and then lost to the Nashville Junior Predators (the eventual tournament champs), 7-3, in the semifinals. "For a Montana team to do that well is rare," Hass says. "The numbers of kids we are able to draw upon is incredibly small compared to the teams we're playing. I'm proud of them." Similarly, Billings was just happy to get to the regional baseball tournament in San Bernardino, Calif. Their goal, Dawson says, was to simply win enough games to play in a game broadcast live on cable television. But they accomplished far more, eventually beating Oregon, 7-1, to punch their ticket to South Williamsport, the first team from Montana ever to do so. THEM ONE SHIFT AT A TIME." —DAWSON SMITH measure of revenge in a semifinal rematch televised on ABC. The Californians went on to beat Japan, 2-1, to win the World Series crown. Although Smith's hockey team was dealt a similar fate, the Thunderblade's showing reinforced a lesson that Smith learned at the ballpark: When working together as a team, anything is possible. "On the ice, it's five kids against five At the big show in Pennsylvania, Billings beat South Dakota, 6-4, and Louisiana, 3-1. Then, in a quarterfinal game at the 10-day tournament, Billings knocked off heavily favored Huntington Beach, 1-0. Notably, that contest, aired on ESPN, attracted four million viewers and was the highest rated TV audience for a youth base- ball game ever in the California market. "Once you get out there and play the first game, you don't really notice the cameras," Dawson shrugs. Billings' dream run, however, came to an end when Huntington Beach extracted a 34 kids," Dawson says. "Coach said we just need to skate with them one shift at a time." Playing hockey on a select team in Montana means covering thousands of miles by car and an equal number flying to tournaments in the West every win- ter. Long weekends lead to absences from the classroom, but Smith knows what his priorities are. "I carry my school books in a back- pack," he says. "My favorite subject is solving problems in math." Here's a statistic he couldn't answer: What are the odds of another boy having accom- plished what he did in two different sports? While it may be hard to say how many kids have shared Smith's double feat within the same calendar year, it's safe to say that SEPTEMBER.2012 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM he joins an exclusive club of youth hockey players who also played in the Little League World Series, including Chris Drury (1989) and Krissy Wendell (1994). "My wife and I encourage our kids to dream big, but if you would have asked me 10 years ago if I ever thought two of Dawson's sports teams would compete on that level, I'd have never believed you," Robbie Smith says. "The most rewarding things are the friendships he's made along the way." If Dawson had to choose just one, he doesn't know which sport he'd pick. "It depends on the season," he says. "When it starts getting cold, I love hock- ey, but when the snow melts I'm ready for baseball. "One thing I do know is that being an underdog is definitely an advantage. Us coming from Montana, other teams don't take us very seriously." That may be changing, as Dawson Smith continues to put the Big Sky state on the national sporting map. N Todd Wilkinson is a renowned writer based out of Bozeman, Mont. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL INCORPORATED, SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT; ACTIONPHOTOS.COM