DETROIT - As a black player in a predominantly white sport, Detroit Red Wings prospect Givani Smith knew as a kid the challenges he would face.

"Me and my brothers were raised to be mentally strong," Smith said. "My dad (Gary) told us when we were little, down the road, wherever you go stuff might happen. That's just life. I was prepared for it, me and my family. I think I handled it pretty well."

He did up until the end of what would be his final game major junior game with Kitchener.

Smith, a 6-2, 206-pound left wing Detroit selected with its second pick in 2016 (46th overall), flipped off the Sault Ste. Marie bench following a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6 of the conference finals. The OHL suspended him, forcing him to miss Game 7, which the Soo won 4-3 in double-overtime.

"Definitely tough way to go," Smith said. "We had a real good playoff run, worked so hard to get to the conference finals, and the way I got suspended wasn't ideal."

Smith cited a culmination of incidents throughout the season that reached a tipping point.

"Throughout the whole year and the end of the season, I guess it just all built up in me and what happened at the end of the game, I wasn't thinking, and my emotions got the best of me," Smith said.

A security guard sat with him in the press box for Game 7 at Sault Ste. Marie.

"I guess it was for my safety," Smith said. "I was getting some rude comments over social media. Team thought it was better being safe.

He added, "Fans all like to say a lot of things. It's 2018, don't really need to hear that stuff. It doesn't happen often, but it happened."

It helped having support from his brothers, including Gemel, a center for the Dallas Stars.

"I have two other brothers that play hockey, so they're like my mentors, I look up to them," Smith said. "They understand everything I'm going through. They've been in my shoes."

Smith said several current and former NHL players reached out to him, including P.K. Subban, Joel Ward and Kevin Weekes.

"They offered me a lot of advice -- if you want to talk about it, we're there," Smith said. "I'm sure I'm not the only black hockey player that's been through it. It happens, I'm over it now. I'm here in the next chapter, which is development camp."

Smith is skating on a line with the team's two most recent top picks - Filip Zadina and Michael Rasmussen - at the camp which runs through Saturday at the Belfor Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena.

Smith, 20, is preparing to make his pro debut this fall with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.

He said part of his game is "constantly finishing my checks, playing hard, getting under guys' skin. Over time, guys think about it, hear me coming, it makes more space for me and my linemates."

"I'm a power forward, I can get to dirty areas," Smith said. "My job is to be hard on the forecheck and get the puck for the guys who are really high in skill and go to the net and get open."

Red Wings director of player development Shawn Horcoff and his assistant, Daniel Cleary, watched most of Smith's playoff games. Horcoff said he was outstanding.

"He's an energy guy," Horcoff said. "He's good with good players because he can go in and win a puck. He's good at getting the puck to skill and he goes to the net. That's where he's at his best. He's also a guy that knows he needs a big summer because the level from just out here to camp and from camp to the regular season is a whole different step."

Smith said he needs to work on his first three steps getting out of the zone. Griffins head coach Ben Simon likes the different dimension Smith brings with his size and physicality.

"Givani's a big, strong kid," Simon said. "We saw a little bit of what he can do two years ago in the spring when he came to Grand Rapids (as an extra). He's focused a little more on developing his offensive instincts and getting pucks off the wall and taking them to the scoring areas. He's a guy who's going to be relied on to bring a little bit of a physical presence and create space for his linemates, but at the same time we're expecting him to help contribute offensively. As a young guy coming into our league it's tough. There's high expectations from him on himself and then what the organization expects from him as well."