I consider myself a pretty hardworking guy and I like to play hard, play physical and play well defensively too.

Both of my parents were raised in Christian homes, which was great. They instilled in us that God came first and they showed us what it was like to have a relationship with Christ. I accepted Christ at a young age, at the age of six years old, and just tried to play hockey and balance that.

I had some struggles later in my teenage years. I moved away from home and struggled a little bit being on my home and finding out who I was and trying to mix that with my faith and make it real. I learned a lot of lessons and made some mistakes along the way.

I was probably about 22 years old when I recommitted myself to get off the fence and go all in and get serious about my faith. That's really when I experienced God's love and His forgiveness and His true grace.

Sometimes trust takes time. We all love to be in control, but when you start to give some of that up, it's freeing. Start with some of the little things. Give those things up to the Lord. Ultimately the most important decision you can make is giving your life over to Christ and trusting Him with it. That's an amazing thing.

I always say that if she treats her kids half as good as she treats the dogs, they'll be in great shape.

Hopefully I can be a good light in the hockey world and promote faith as something that's really real.