The Copper & Blue, an Edmonton Oilers community

"When I was looking at schools I had the option of North Dakota and Denver but I felt that when I made the decision to play college hockey I wanted to get an education with it. Cornell is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the degree you come out of there with is second to none, so I felt I was getting the overall package. They have a very rich hockey tradition there, and they’ve developed some very good NHL players so I felt going there wasn’t going to hurt my development; I’d get better and better each year, and that’s what’s happened so far. I see myself early on being a third line, maybe fourth line centre, but you know what, that’s where everyone starts unless you’re a very skilled player, so you have to start somewhere and hopefully work up from there."