If you ask me why I got into hockey, I would not need to think very long to find an answer. The Erste Bank Eishockey Liga had a team called the Vienna Capitals. Though the team was very young when I started watching it, I was alway overjoyed when I saw players Manuel Latusa and Mike Craig skating up and down the ice. This was about the time that I started playing youth hockey. Unfortunately my stay in Vienna wouldn't last long. When I was 7, I moved to the state of Florida. While being a very unorthodox place to play hockey, the state had seen a very recent surge of interested players due to the recent Stanley Cup win by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. As I got accustomed to living in Florida, I started trying out for teams. I eventually ended up on the Tampa Bay Scorpions youth team and played there until high school. I joined the Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey League in its inaugural season on the East Lake High School team and that is when i started hearing from colleges. I eventually decided to commit to the University of Michigan and played on the Wolverines. Playing in the SHL has always been my dream. I finally got drafted in the SMJHL to the St Louis Scarecrows and couldn't be happier.