@sharkens

mack and will played each other for the first time in 2020 at the 'all-american prospects camp' where mack was on the '06 team and will was on the '05 team. this was before mack even attended shattack st. mary's!

both of their teams made it all the way to the final of the tournament where will's team won 9-8! mack scored the first goal and they were up 7-3 at some point only to lose out eventually...

which is probably why mack is still wearing his cage in the pic below that's been doing the rounds lately - yes they stood together in this pic with no knowledge of how intertwined their lives were about to become! a great thought piece about this all here :)

mack has said that his very first impression of will was: “I was saying exactly that, wow, he’s really good.”

will and mack also continued to play against each other sometimes whilst mack was at the chicago steel and will was at the usntdp!

-> College Hockey

of course, will and mack attended bc and bu, one of the oldest and anticipated rivalries in college hockey, and as two of their team's star players, they were certainly aware of each other!

will said whilst at junior worlds with team usa:

"We've definitely seen each other. There's a reason he's going to go No. 1. He's a pretty special player. Obviously, we had some pretty good matchups this year. "Whenever you're on the ice with another player like that you have to keep your eye on him. We were on the ice quite a few times, some shifts together. Definitely we were keeping our eye on each other."

will obviously rated mack very highly whilst they were at college, even playing against each other! and he could defintely tell that mack was 'keeping an eye' on him too, huh? (what a way to put it!)

mack has been far more candid about his feelings towards will during this time:

but in cat's podcast (18:50-19:30) he clarifies this in more detail, explaining:

“Anytime you play against someone for so long, you kind of build up a rivalry or whatever… you don’t really love the guys you’re playing against, especially when they’re lighting you up.”

will looks sooooo smug after this comment lol, then toff jokes that it's not like will was hitting him or anything bc will doesn’t play physical, so there wouldn't be any bad blood bc of that! mack's annoyance is understandable tho seeing as his record against will before the sharks was 3-7 which will loves to tease him about!

-> The Draft + Prospect Camp

they were asked a lot about each other in this period- will and mack definitely talked before the draft! mack was often trying not to get ahead of himself about where he would end up... but when mack was finally officially drafted to the sharks he was excited to get to play with will after playing against him for so many years (look at that smile!!:):

will was really excited too! (gifs by @keelpay <3)

and when they finally got to sharks prospect camp they both agreed that they got on very well straight away :)

"We got along right away and I think we were friends pretty quick," Celebrini said of Smith "It blended right away," Smith said.

we got more insight into this once again in cat's podcast (18:50-20:00) - perhaps the most important piece of journalism ever conducted, let's be real:

Cat: "So when did you give in?" (referring to getting over the bu/bc rivalry- help hello??!) Mack: “I think once we got to know each other, we met at rookie camp in the summer and then got to know each other a little better.” Will: “He was all quiet at the start and I opened—he opened up real quick.”

then toff jokes it was because will wouldn’t let mack get a word in edgeways lol, but i wish we heard a bit more!!!

it's giving mack was nervous/wanting to impress so badly so was super focused and not worried/thinking about socialising and wsh, no.1 hockey socialite (everybody LOVES him), saw this super focused twitchy 18 yr old and was like okay HE’S gonna be my guy™

and once mack realised ‘oh he actually wants to be my friend’, he dropped all his barriers and got comfortable around will super quick by the sounds of it. will’s tone makes me think mack was yapping at him/oversharing like immediately after will tried to get close to him hehe <3

will and mack were roommates since the NHL Rookie Faceoff. will joked they're compatible bc they "both have the alarm at the same time,” and mack said with a smile, “We [spend] a lot of time together, so if we weren’t, there’d be a problem.”

they also went to dinner together (just the two of them), asked the empty netters boys for recs, and had steak and molten lava cake<3

ever since rooming together they were noticably stuck together at the hip, wenny said they're 'two peas in a pod', toff said 'they need each other', tommer said they're 'on a different level'.

this pic of them with the other prospects always make me laugh because yes, they really are just in their own little world and they have known each other for DAYS at this point<3 this was allll very visible at the sharks rookie faceoff too. unbridled GLEE on both of their faces even tho they were on opposite teams.

because they roomed together throughout camp and everyone clocked their fast friendship immediately lol, will was asked if he would miss rooming with mack and will just smiled as he said that they'd be roomates on the road this season anyway :)

i think the importance of will and mack's close bond is summarised perfectly in this article: 'It has at least made things easier for Celebrini and Smith because they have each other.'