He shoots, he scores, he ... fesses up

It was intermission at the hockey game, so Nick Smith took off with some buddies to play outside -- but not before telling his 11-year-old twin brother, Nathan, "If my name's drawn, just shoot for me."

After all, what were the odds that his name would be chosen from a raffle to attempt an outrageously difficult shot to win $50,000?

A few minutes later, there was Nathan on the ice, setting off an explosion of cheers and high-fives inside the Faribault, Minn., arena as his shot glided some 90 feet into a 3-inch-wide notch in a plywood board. Video of the million-to-one feat was soon all over the networks.

Today, the Smiths will be in New York City preparing for an appearance on national TV, and for a different kind of attention directed at Nate's hero shot. The Owatonna family didn't acknowledge that Nate took the shot Nick had been chosen to try until the day after the contest, when their father, Pat, called the organizers. Now it's anyone's guess whether the $50,000 will be paid, and a town is choosing sides about how the Smiths handled the situation.

"The boys weren't feeling right about it and my wife and I weren't, either, and our friends were asking about it," Pat Smith said late Tuesday. "We just decided that's not how we raised 'em."

By Tuesday an editorial in the local paper was praising the boys' parents for giving their sons "a great lesson in honesty."

Real estate agent Debra Schmidt said Pat Smith's confession was "amazing, especially in this economy."

"A lot of people would take the money and tell the kid to shut up. I'd be tempted to, I know that." Schmidt added, "My thought is, let that poor little kid have the money -- who cares, he made the shot!"

Others said the substitution of one twin for another may have deprived someone else of a chance at the dough.

The head of the athletics association that ran the promotion was circumspect about Pat Smith's behavior.

"Yeah, he did come forward, you can't deny that," said Greg Starkson, president of the Faribault Hockey Association. "Though not till the next day did he come forward."

In retrospect, Pat Smith said, he should probably have written "Nick or Nate" when he bought the ticket. "I didn't honestly think it mattered which one shot. We kind of always think of them as either/or."

Everything happened so fast. Pat Smith wasn't there when the name was drawn, but returned to see Nathan coming down to take the shot.

"I said, 'Where's Nick?' He said, 'He went outside. He told me to shoot for him.'"

Organizer Vance Vinar Jr. remembers at least the boy and possibly the father, too, affirming that it was Nick who was taking the shot.

"Wouldn't you know," Pat Smith said, "he made the shot and the place went crazy. We kind of got caught up in it. We'd come there with a couple of other families and a couple of dads reminded me right away it was Nick's name drawn. But no one [else] really knew.

"The next day we were all feeling guilty and the boys didn't feel right about it so we called and set the story straight. ... We didn't want [the boys] to feel it was OK to lie just to win some money."

The Nevada-based firm that insured the youth hockey association for the promotion will decide whether the Smiths win anything for the shot.

The firm's general manager, Carlos Concha, said it will be awhile before a decision is made.

"I have never seen anything like this except on TV, where one twin goes in for the other," Concha said.

David Peterson • 952-882-9023