“I got started playing hockey on a frozen pond near our house,” he said. “I walked to school with my buddies. Along the way, there was this very wealthy man’s estate high up on a hill. The land included a huge pond in the back of the mansion in the woods, kind of secluded. We played on the ice often to and from school, but a lot on the weekends. We began playing with just our shoes and boots on, just kicking a rock around or playing make-believe hockey with a stick and a rock.”