Hello fellow Dons, it is a pleasure for me to come back and speak with you all today about some of the lessons I learned here that have helped me in achieving my dream of playing in the SHL.  While we have a great sports program and playing on great teams certainly helped with my hockey development, I instead want to focus on some of the lessons I learned in the classroom that have translated to the hockey world as well.

There is no shortcut to making it as a professional athlete.  It takes sacrifice and hard work along with your natural talents.  I know I am one of the very fortunate ones to have the natural talent but I learned the hard work and dedication from the classroom.  I had to work very hard to get good grades and pass classes which was not always fun but it taught me to apply that same dedication to my hockey play.  It has paid off obviously.