The moment he started running around the house in his hockey gear and dragging his double-bladed skates across the pond near his home in Manchester, New Hampshire, Mat Myers was hooked. The son of a hockey coach, he knew that his life would always revolve around the sport.
As the Nashville Predators' video coordinator, the origins of Myers' NHL dreams are fairly typical. But his path to the 2017 Stanley Cup finals, which opens Monday (8 ET) with Game 1 between the Predators and the defending-champion Pittsburgh Penguins, certainly isn't.
Born with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, Myers, who is now 26, developed an average-sized torso but smaller limbs and a head larger than usual.