If battling adversity was the No. 1 requirement to make it to the NHL, then Aaron Titcomb already would be playing there. As it is, the fact that the Charlestown, Mass., native played D-1 at Merrimack and is now entering his second season of playing minor league pro hockey is pretty incredible when you hear his story. Since he was born, the challenges he has faced have been significant, but he hasn’t allowed them to become an excuse. If anything, he has used them to show the hockey world how strong and determined he is to make it.
Titcomb, 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, is a right-shot defenseman who honed his game for the USHPL’s Islanders Hockey Club, Salisbury Prep and Brewster Academy. A four-time Hockey East All-Academic Team selection for Merrimack, he also earned Distinguished Scholar status. Last season, he played 44 games with the ECHL’S Wheeling Nailers.
Recently, I had the chance to meet Aaron, and, similar to his coaches, came away very impressed with what I experienced.
Billy Jaffe: You have faced a lot of adversity in your life, in your hockey life. How has that helped develop you as a player, but more importantly as a person?
Aaron Titcomb: I have faced a lot of adversity. That’s helped mold me into the player I am today. I lost my father when I was 1. He was taken from us. My mother (Mary), who was only 18 at the time, had to raise me singlehandedly. Growing up in that environment, in Charlestown, a rough-and-tumble neighborhood, I wasn’t supposed to succeed. I wasn’t supposed to make it out. I decided that I was going to work very hard and do things I had to do to success. I think having that lifestyle growing up, where nothing was really given to me — I had to earn everything that came my way. I was never just handed an opportunity. I had to work every single day, tirelessly, to get what I wanted. I think I formed a level of grit when it came to that, and I think that kind of defines my game. I’m a very, very gritty person, and I have constantly persevered.
I broke my neck when I was 16 years old, a junior in high school. I got hit from behind, broke my C3 and C4 vertebrae. The doctor basically said to me, “Hey, look, you’re probably not going to play hockey ever again, so find a new sport or find something else, but hockey’s not going to happen.” Right after the doctor walked out of the room, I looked at my mother and I almost didn’t have to say anything. She knew that I was basically telling her, “Hey Mom, this doctor told me I couldn’t do something. You know I’m going to do it, because I love hockey. I love this game, and I’m not going to let an injury define my career.” That was a tough point for me. I was out for about nine months. I couldn’t really do much, had to start from scratch with everything. Going through that as a person, it kind of shows me that this game can be taken away from you at any moment. That’s why I think I live every single day to the fullest, because I know how lucky I am to still be playing. At the same time, I’m not satisfied with where I’m at. I’m constantly wanting more, constantly working toward something more. When it comes to my work ethic, I’ve been told by numerous coaches that they’ve never had players outwork me. I am the hardest worker on my team. I will always be the hardest worker, because that’s how I was raised, and that’s how I had to succeed. I was never good enough to make it on talent alone.
Jaffe: Your father was murdered when you were 1 year old. To most people, that is unfathomable. As you got older, how did you deal with that, and did that impact you in ways that you can explain?
Titcomb: It did. I credit a lot of my success to my mother. She’s my best friend, she’s really been my rock, my role model. She was working four jobs at the age of 18 just to support me on her own. That’s formed who I am. Now I’m working with kids constantly. Any off time, I’m constantly giving back to the community. Right now I’m working at Pro Ambitions, picking up a couple of weeks here or there, because I love to do that. At Merrimack, I won fan favorite two years out of the four years I was there. In Wheeling, I won the Community Service Award and fan favorite award, because I’m constantly giving back, and I know this platform that I have, you get looked up to as a role mode. Not having a father figure for half of my life — I had my stepfather come in — I understand how important having a role model or a father figure in a kid’s life is. So if I can just step in for a couple minutes talking to a kid after a hockey game, or signing a puck for them, or bringing them into the locker room, I understand how long of a way that’s going to go, because I personally did not have that growing up.
Jaffe: Charlestown has changed a lot, obviously. What was it like as a kid playing hockey in that area?
Titcomb: It’s changed now. You drive down the street, and there are no kids playing. Really that’s just a generational thing now. When I was growing up, me and my buddies, we had a great generation, guys like Jimmy Vesey, Brendan Collier, Nolan Vesey, all these kids around, and we were constantly outside playing. Roller hockey was almost like a religion in Charlestown. That’s what you did. At the same time, there was also a lot of stuff that you had to stay away from. There was a lot of drug use, a lot of alcohol. So you had to find ways to occupy your time and not get caught up in that, because there were a lot of negative influences going on around you. It wasn’t really a pretty neighborhood, so you had to find ways to occupy your time. How I did that was I would go out and I’d shoot pucks. I’d play some basketball. I found ways to go out and make myself better while kids were doing stuff that was ruining their lives. I also was fortunate enough to see what drug use could do. My father got into the drugs early and it ended up being the one reason that he’s gone. I’ve had a bunch of family members who have struggled with addiction, so I have seen that first hand. I’ve had friends who have struggled with addiction. Seeing that, I knew that I could not go down that path. It almost made me want to succeed even more, so I could say to myself, “Hey look, you grew up in an environment where it was not easy to succeed.” And really only 1 percent of the population in your environment succeeds in what they want to do. The rest get caught up in going down the bad road.
Jaffe: When you get the opportunity to play hockey outside of Charlestown, besides your mom, who becomes your biggest hockey influence? Who makes the biggest difference for you?
Titcomb: Outside of my mother, the biggest hockey influence for me has been my stepfather (Jim Gillen). He came into my life when I was about 10 years old, 11 years old. He kind of opened up a lot of doors for me and he never really accepted no for an answer. When people told him, “Your stepson is not good enough, he can’t do this,” he constantly kept grinding away for me and put me in different opportunities to succeed. I was told my whole life, I’m not good enough, I wasn’t good enough to play Division 1 hockey, I’m not good enough to play professionally. I’m almost used to hearing that, and I love proving people wrong. He came in with the knowledge that my mother probably didn’t know about the game and he opened up all these avenues for me to get noticed and these different experiences. He also showed me all the work off the ice, like shooting pucks and stuff like that. He kind of reassured me that if I put the work in now, I’m going to be happy down the road.
Jaffe: Before Merrimack you were playing with the Islanders Hockey Club. How and why did you choose Merrimack to go to college?
Titcomb: A couple of reasons. I went to Austin Prep then I went to Brewster Academy after I broke my neck. I repeated my junior year and I did a senior year there. When I graduated, I was going to commit to playing Division 3 hockey, because those were the only schools that were looking at me. I had no one else that was interested because I was kind of old at that point — I was about a 20-year-old. I had people looking at me when I was 15, 18, but that’s when I broke my neck. By then I was off their radar. I had no Division 1 looks. That kind of put a chip on my shoulder, but I was ready to commit. Then an opportunity at Salisbury (Prep) opened up. My buddy there called me on my graduation day from Brewster and said, “Hey look, if you want to give it one more year, one more chance, we have a great team, what do you think?” Again I looked at my mom and she knew, if I had one more opportunity to make my dream come true of playing Division 1 hockey, I was going to do it.
So I went to Salisbury, and out of there, Coach (Mark) Dennehy, Coach (Curtis) Carr and Coach (Glenn) Stewart, they kind of recruited me right off the bat. That was the one school that really showed a lot of interest. Coach Dennehy drove down to Salisbury and he offered me a spot, he offered me a scholarship. I was blown away, and I basically accepted it on the spot. I called him the next day and said I’d like to have my official visit, and sure enough I was committed that day. They kind of gave me a chance that no one else was willing to give me. I loved the way Coach Dennehy went about it, because he never promised me anything. He said, “Look, you come here and you work hard, you’re going to get what you deserve. If you don’t, then you’re not going to get it.” So it became easy work and I loved that culture. I loved that culture of working as hard as you can and being rewarded for what you earned. It worked out perfect, because I was drafted out to the USHL by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, but I already was with the Junior Islanders playing out of the same rink at Merrimack. It worked out that I was able to play my junior hockey right next door to where I was going to playing my college hockey. It was a pretty cool experience. As I was working extremely hard on the other side of the (rink), I could go over and watch Merrimack College practice. It kind of lit a fire under me to get better and train as hard as I could with the Islanders, and I ended up coming into Merrimack prepared and ready.
Jaffe: What did you study at Merrimack and could you use some of that in your life after hockey?
Titcomb: I took my academics pretty seriously. I graduated with the second highest honors, magna cum laude. I had a 3.82 and I finished with a finance and sports management degree. Academics was stressed in my household. Everything I do I always give 100 percent, so I worked extremely hard in my academics, finished pretty high in my class. Using that moving forward, I would like to stay in hockey after my career is over, which hopefully isn’t for a little while here. I’d like to stay in the game, I’d like to work with kids, I’d probably like to coach. At the same time, I would like to be a financial planner or a financial adviser. I’m actually a certified financial planner. I got that at Merrimack. I work with families who are struggling, and I kind of had to show them how to budget their money, spend their money the right way and help them save. I like working with families who may not be coming from much, because I didn’t have much growing up and I know where they are coming from. Now that I have the knowledge to help them, and give back to them, I think I can see myself doing that, because I think I’m great with people, I’m a very personable person and I love helping people out. Maybe being a financial planner or being a financial adviser, maybe being an agent one day, helping kids reach their goals, their dreams, I see myself doing something like that.
Jaffe: How much fun was it playing in the ECHL, in the Coast, this year with Wheeling?
Titcomb: It was a blast to play there. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed myself. Coach (Mike) Bavis was great. I was very happy he was there. He helped me out a bit. It was very fun. It was also very challenging, because it was a different game. It’s much different game than college. It’s a controlled chaos, in a way. Everything is slow and controlled but people are still moving at such at a fast speed and they’re all in the right places. The mistakes are very minimal. It was definitely challenging for me off the bat. I wouldn’t say the speed was an issue. The skill level was a tad up from Merrimack, but I adjusted to that pretty quickly. I found myself in the lineup every night. Unless I was hurt or had something going on. I wasn’t really a healthy scratch at all. So I think I picked up that level, I wouldn’t say easily, but I worked very hard so I could pick it up in a short amount of time. I think I did a good job with that. I made a name for myself. I kind of found my niche — I’m a stay-at-home defenseman who’s going to get up in the play when he can, but I’m going to block shots, I’m going to kill penalties, I’m going to box out, I’m going to do all the dirty work that not a lot of people are wiling to do. Teams need guys like that, so I’m willing to fill that role. I know that’s going to be my game. Obviously, I have not mastered the game of hockey. I still have a lot to learn. But I think I’m ready for an opportunity at the next level and I’m going to keep doing my best every day and keep putting myself in position to succeed. The next level is right around the corner for me. It’s just getting the opportunity to showcase my talents at the next level.
Jaffe: Do people understand how much a defensive defenseman is still needed in the game of hockey as the game continues to evolve into a more skill, almost finesse-type game?
Titcomb: I think there is a big need, and you can look at the Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues. Almost all of their defensemen were big guys, maybe who weren’t the most offensive guys, but they prided themselves on their physicality. They were a very physical team. They were big bodies who boxed out. For the other team, they were hard to play against. … I do think there is a need for it, there will always be a need for it. The thing I also have going for me is I’m a big, right-shot defenseman. Right shots are usually pretty sought-after in the game of hockey. The guys who are wiling to play the fifth and sixth defensive slots, not everyone wants do that. Everyone wants to score the goals, everyone wants to make the great plays, but not everybody is willing to get unnoticed. And that’s the job that I do. The job that I do usually goes unnoticed. I’m not going to show up on the scoresheet every single night, but I promise you I’m going to win you hockey games.
Jaffe: What would it mean to make an American Hockey League roster?
Titcomb: Just another thing I can check off my checklist. I would still be wanting more. It would be an opportunity I would die for. I dream big, I constantly dream big, I have been told to dream big. So getting that opportunity, I would not take it for granted. ... I’m going to be the grittiest person on your hockey team. I will be your hardest-working guy. If I was to get that opportunity, it would be awesome. I’ve been very resilient. Even if I get that opportunity, I’m going toward even harder. The people who knows me, the coaches who knows, they know that’s my game, and that won’t change, no matter what level I’m at.
