Mike is a product of the Bloomington Jefferson youth program.  he got his start in hockey at the age of seven when he first played in the Jefferson mite program.  It was during his PeeWee and Bantam years that Mike enjoyed playing in the Selects Festival.

After youth hockey it was on to Bloomington Jefferson High School where Mike won four varsity letters.  During that time Mike led Jefferson to three consecutive state high school championships.  Mike was honored in many ways, all-conference, all-state and all0state tournament.  His biggest honor came at the end of his senior year when he won the coveted Mr. Hockey aware given annually to Minnesota's best high school hockey player.

As a result of Mike's tremendous high school career he became one of the most actively recruited high school players in recent memory.  Much to the delight of Minnesota hockey fans he chose to further his education and his hockey career at the University of Minnesota.  While Mike was attending the "U" the awards continued to be heaped upon him.  In his freshman year 91994-1995) he was named WCHA Freshman of the year and was a member of the All-WCHA rookie team.  In addition, Mike was named honorable mention All-WCHA.  For his efforts Mike was rewarded with a position on the 1995 U.S. National Junior Team which represented the United State in international competition.  Perhaps his biggest accomplishment, however, was his being named a U of M Scholar-Athlete

The impressive list of accomplishments continued for Mike in the 1996-96 season.  he was named on of ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, he was also named first team All-American, he led WCHA defenseman in scoring and again put on a impressive performance in the classroom.  Mike was named to the WCHA All-Academic team and was an Academic All-Big Ten Selection.

The 1996-97 season promised to be Mike's best yet and he certainly did not disappoint.  Again, Mike was a Hobey Baker finalist, was named a first team All-American, was named WCHA player of the year, and was an All-WCHA selection..

In the summer of 1997 Mike was faced with a very important decision.  Should he return to the "U" where he would have been the odds favorite to capture the Hobey Baker Award or should be pursue his childhood dream of playing in the National Hockey League?  After a great deal of soul searching Mike announced that he would in fact forego his senior year of college to enter the world of professional hockey.  in the fall of 1997 Mike reported to training camps with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks organization.

After training camp he was reassigned to the Ducks minor league affiliate in Cincinnati where he played until Dec. 28th, 1997.  It was on this date that Mike received a call every hockey player dreams of, he was being called up to the National Hockey League!  Mike joined the Anaheim Mighty ducks that same day and played his first NHL game that evening in Chicago against the Chicago Black Hawks.  While with the "big club" played in four games before being reassigned to Cincinnati.  With Mike's talent and his lobe of the game it is fair to assume that Mike's future looks very bright with Anaheim Ducks organization. (1998)