After spending most of his childhood in Wellesley, Massachusetts, he was sent at age fourteen to Quebec to play junior hockey in the Metropolitan Montreal Junior League for the Lachine Maroons and later the Montreal Junior Canadiens. He attended the University of Denver where he helped guide the Pioneers hockey team to the NCAA championship in 1968 and 1969. He played on the US National Team for 1969–70 and 1970–71 seasons, including the 1970 and 1971 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments while serving in the US Army.