The earliest point of Martijn Westbroek's life would be when he emerged from the womb, umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and all. It was dark, and then all of a sudden it was light. I guess this would have been a proper metaphor for his hockey career as he emerged from relative unknown to burst onto the scene. From a young age, Martijn grew to love the game of hockey as his father would hold him in his left hand and a cold one in his right as they'd watch the team from Zurich play in the Swiss National League. The fans and atmosphere at the games began to brew a passion for Westbroek and by the time he could stand he was already carrying around his mom's spatulas like hockey sticks and making skating motions. Hockey was all he thought about and while his artist mother tried to send him to summer art camps to grow his interests, he ended up making paintings and sculptures that were hockey focused. His parents relented and sent him to a hockey academy and well... the rest is history.