Thatcher Demko is a goaltender playing his freshman season with Boston College. The 6-foot-3, 190-pounder played his minor hockey in southern California before joining the U.S. National Team Development Program last season. He's excelled for the United States at the under-18 level and could earn a spot on the U.S. team for the 2014 World Junior Championship. Demko has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2014 NHL Draft.

Hi everyone. I'm Thatcher Demko. I am currently a goaltender for the Boston College Eagles in the Hockey East conference.

I was born in Sam Diego in December 1995. Growing up playing in San Diego was definitely a different experience than most hockey players have. In my city of nearly 1.5 million people there were four ice sheets, two in one building, so finding ice wasn't always the easiest thing to do so I always had to do so unordinary things to train.

Once I hit 15, I moved to Omaha to play for the Omaha Lancers in the United States Hockey League. After one season with that incredible organization, I moved again, to Ann Arbor, Mich., and played one season with the U.S. National Team Development Program U-18 team. I then accelerated my high school studies and got into Boston College a year early.

Picking Boston College was almost a no-brainer for me. The reputation the university has on and off the ice was second to none and I'm getting to experience it now first-hand. I can't wait to contribute to the school's already sterling achievements and hopefully we can keep them coming in the years to come.

I'm anxiously awaiting the All-American Prospects Game, which is Sept. 26 in Pittsburgh. I've heard great things from the players that participated in last year's game in Buffalo.

Aside from the game I am very excited to meet and play with some elite American prospects. It's always fun to play with fellow American hockey players.

I hope you enjoyed this first blog and will follow along here the rest of the season.

Follow Thatcher Demko on Twitter: thatcher_hockey