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In this episode we catch up with Grand Rapids Griffins Captain/Forward Matt Ford. I first met Matt in Cleveland when he was playing for the Lake Erie Monsters and I was the team broadcaster, in fact as Matt tells Fred Pletsch and I in this episode, his time w/Lake Erie was big in his development as a pro hockey player. Matt starts from the beginning with us as he tells us the story of his grandfather moving his family from Toronto to Southern California and Matt's first memories of hockey and how he started to play as a kid. In his teen years he would attend Shattuck St. Mary's School in Minnesota, a program that has helped produce dozens of players that have gone on to play college and pro hockey. From Shattuck, Matt attended the University of Wisconsin and was part of their 2006 NCAA Title team, he discusses that, and one teammate who helped teach him more about the game. Matt's pro hockey career started in 2008 with Charlotte, in 2009-11 he played for Lake Erie, leading our team with  26 goals in his 2nd season a was a part of our late season run to the Calder Cup playoffs! Matt has been with Grand Rapids since 2016, later that season, the Griffins would hoist the Calder Cup as AHL Champions. Matt is 35, and he's now showing the younger players in the Detroit Red Wings organization what it takes to be a pro player, all while still playing the game he loves!!!  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app