Growing up in Charlestown, Mass., hockey was in Aaron Titcomb‘s blood.

His uncles played the game. His late father played the game.

“I was basically born on the ice,” Titcomb told me this week. “My grandmother took me out there when I was two on a milk crate, and the rest is history from there.”

Titcomb, a 25-year-old defenseman, is now in his first professional season with the Nailers after four years at Merrimack College. But it wasn’t the easiest journey from that milk crate to Wheeling.

While playing in high school, Titcomb suffered two serious injuries. His first was a broken collarbone that sidelined him for three months. His next came after a dangerous hit from behind. Titcomb sustained a concussion and broke his C-3 and C-4 vertebrae in his neck, an injury that put his hockey future in jeopardy.

“I was in a neck brace for eight months,” Titcomb recalled. “I was out of hockey. I wasn’t supposed to play. But I made the choice that it was a passion of mine and I wanted to keep going. I was pretty resilient when it came to that and I was lucky to have a good foundation with my family around me to help me through it. It was a scary moment, a check for me just how fast the game can be taken away. There’s other aspects to life than just hockey. I was almost actually fortunate to go through it because I saw a lot of different sides of life that people wouldn’t get to see.”

Titcomb recovered, and kept going. He joined Merrimack, just half an hour from his hometown, in 2014. It was there that he continued to grow his hard-working, physical, shutdown style of play — one that he believes is a byproduct of his background.

“Growing up outside of Boston, it was almost like you had to be a little tough and show a little fight,” he said. “I kind of pride my game on that, it’t gotten me this far so it’s worked out for me.”

Titcomb has shown those same qualities in the beginning of his professional career. He’s skilled at using his big, 6-feet-4, 220-pound frame to knock opponents off of the puck and create space and chances. He delivered these two crushing hits this week:

He’s sound defensively, and one of the team’s penalty killers. He’s singlehandedly saved a few goals this season with moves like this at the goal line:

“I think I bring a lot of things to the team that other guys probably don’t bring,” he said of his game. “I take a lot of pride in penalty kill, just being a good defensive defenseman.”

With a role like that, Titcomb doesn’t expect to see his name on the scoresheet too often. He scored one goal through his four years of college hockey, with the lone tally coming in his sophomore year. His next goal wouldn’t come for another 1,152 days — last week, Jan. 16 in Adirondack.

The goal didn’t come in an ideal circumstance, it was in the final minutes of a 5-3 loss. But it was still such a rewarding moment for him.

“Obviously getting the loss it was a bittersweet moment for me, I couldn’t really show my emotions on the goal,” he said. “But it felt good. Internally I was really excited, really happy for myself. I haven’t scored in over three years, so it was a pretty good experience, and I have the puck. It was a lot of fun for me.”

Titcomb is already becoming a pretty popular guy in the community. He volunteers his time to work with children and D.A.R.E. programs to educate others about the dangers of drugs, and drinking and driving.

.@townieboy3 was speaking at Corpus Christi School’s D.A.R.E. Graduation today! pic.twitter.com/1BbVUIreK2

— Wheeling Nailers (@WheelingNailers) December 11, 2018

For the rest of this season, Titcomb wants to work on fine-tuning the smaller details of his game. As it turns out, playing in the Pittsburgh organization is an ideal place to do that. Pittsburgh sends skills development coach Ty Hennes to Wheeling to help out with some practices. Hennes works with all players in the system, not just those on NHL contracts.

Being able to work with someone like Hennes is a luxury that prospects in other systems don’t typically enjoy. Proximity is a factor — most ECHL teams aren’t an hour drive from their NHL affiliate, so most teams don’t get to work with NHL coaches as often, if at all. Many teams also don’t even have a designated development coach for skills work. Pittsburgh invests in the future all through the system, which makes Wheeling an attractive destination for college free agents like Titcomb.

“(Hennes) is working with the guys at the highest level, some of the best guys in the world” Titcomb said. “To have him around and pick his brain and ask him questions, that’s teaching that I don’t think you can find anywhere else. I’m definitely lucky.”

Titcomb’s focus is to do “whatever it takes to help the team win.” He’s not worried about individual accolades. Still, he hopes that his hard work this season will lead to an AHL contract in the summer. In the meantime, he knows how blessed he is to be where he is now.

“I don’t take any day for granted,” he said. “I know how lucky I am to be here, I know all the hard work I’ve put in. It’s a pleasure to wake up every morning and play a game for a living. I’m very fortunate.”