Rob Millar '00 knew from an early age that he wanted to play hockey, and at age five he laces up his skates for the first time for a local team in Toronto called the Goulden Park Rangers: "They all seemed huge to me. I just skated up and down my wing and I think I touched the puck once all season."

Smithers, British Columbia, is a small town of about 5,000 people, located at the base of magnificent Hudson Bay Mountain. With a picture-postcard downtown, nestled among flowery alpine meadows and glacier-carved mountains, Smithers is a popular year- round destination. It offers a wealth of activities including skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing, and dog-sledding.

But none of these tourist attractions intrigued Rob Millar as he grew up in this rural town, whose closest major city is Vancouver-- 16 hours away. The senior forward's passion has always been hockey. While it's common for a young boy growing up in Canada to fall in love with the sport, the relative lack of interest and competition in Smithers did not make it easy for Millar to arrive at a Division I school with the tradition of hockey excellence Harvard has.

Millar was born in New Westminster, BC, but when he was four years old his family moved to Toronto. Rob knew from an early age that he wanted to play hockey and when he was five years old, he laced up his skates for the first time for a local team in Toronto called the Goulden Park Rangers.

"I was tiny compared to everybody else," remembers the 22-year-old, who now takes a solid 6-foot-2-inch, 200-pound frame into battle. "They all seemed huge to me. I just skated up and down my wing and I think I touched the puck once all season."

The next year Millar enjoyed a growth spurt. And just as he was starting to catch up to his competitors, his family moved back to British Columbia, this time settling in Smithers, where Millar quickly discovered that organized hockey was nowhere near the level of competition it was in Toronto. In fact, Millar recalls his best games in Smithers took place with friends in his backyard.

And what a backyard! Rob's father, Craig, a chiropractor, and his uncle, Axie, a carpenter, constructed an ice rink behind the house. Under the watchful eye of an eager six-year-old boy with visions of home games every day, a skating surface of 100 feet by 50 feet (a little less than half that of Bright Hockey Center) was unveiled, complete with goals, boards, a wooden roof, and lights. There was even a makeshift Zamboni, with water jugs hooked up to a lever on a sled.

"It was pretty much a kid's dream," says Millar. "That rink got a serious workout."

The skills Rob developed on his home ice transformed him into one of the best players for his age group in his area. He was the leading scorer and earned numerous all-tournament and MVP awards as he traveled over western Canada with various junior teams, including the British Columbia Selects and Team Western. At times, his skill level was so advanced that he could take the puck the length of the ice by himself and then wait for his teammates to catch up so he could set them up for a score.

During his senior year of high school, Millar gained the attention of a number of college coaches. Cornell's coaching staff wanted him in Ithaca, but it turned out that they promised the spot to too many recruits and Rob learned he'd have to wait a year to play on the Ivy League team. Although he didn't do it for Cornell, Millar did wait another year before attending college, playing in the interim with the Kelowna Spartans of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League. He hoped to better his chances of making a competitive college roster with the further junior exposure. His patience paid off.

During the pre-season, he heard from Harvard Assistant Coach Jerry Pawloski. "I had only heard of Harvard on television and had never seriously thought I could end up there," says Millar. But when he made his first visit to Cambridge, he decided Harvard was for him.

Millar appeared in just one game prior to Christmas in his freshman campaign but then dressed for 18 of the final 19 contests. He helped himself out right away, as he ignited a come-from-behind home win over Rensselaer with a third-period goal and then tallied a hat trick the next night to key a victory against Union in just his sixth career game. With two assists versus B.C. in the next game, Millar capped an unbelievable streak of seven straight Harvard scores in which he was involved -- earning him ECAC Rookie of the Week honors.

That success and confidence carried over to his sophomore season, when Millar's smooth skating and scoring touch produced a team-high 25 points on 13 goals (including three game- winners) and 12 assists. Last year, he one-upped himself again, recording 26 points on seven goals and 19 assists.

Now, in his senior season, Millar is having another point-filled year, leading the team in scoring and most recently contributing an assist in the heartbreaking Beanpot contest against Northeastern on Feb. 1.

As for life after graduation, Millar is a history concentrator with a specialization in international relations of the late 19th century (along with close friend and Crimson team captain Craig Adams '99) and he has thought about going to graduate school or pursuing a number of other options.

"I'd love to take hockey as far as I can go," says Millar. "I'm not sure how long I could play or where, but I need to find out."

That undeniable six-year-old boy from Smithers with his own ice rink in his backyard just isn't ready to let go of the sport he loves. After all, it has brought him this far.