No matter where you come from, it\u2019s a long road to the NHL, and Alex Kannok Leipert\u2019s is no different.<\/p>\n
But his journey, geographically, is longer than almost anyone else.<\/p>\n
Kannok Leipert, a defenseman who recently signed with the Grand Rapids Griffins<\/a> comes to Western Michigan from Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, where he was born in 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n Or, as the crow flies, about 8,500 miles.<\/p>\n His father, Tim, was a Canadian living in Thailand teaching English when he got married, and Alex lived there until moving to Regina, Saskatchewan, when he was five. But the hockey bug had bitten him before that.<\/p>\n \u201dWe visited Canada when I was two and a half,\u201d Kannock Leipert said. \u201cWe went to a Regina Pats game and I just fell in love with it; I said I wanted to play hockey and that was it,\u201d he told abbotsford.canucks.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kannok Leipert then took to hockey the usual way, playing with his schoolmates in Regina before moving on to the Vancouver Giants.<\/p>\n He was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Draft and played three seasons for the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL before spending last season with the AHL\u2019s Bakersfield Condors.\u00a0<\/p>\n A Personal and NHL first<\/p>\n Kannok Leipert, if he reaches the NHL, would be its first player born in Thailand, but not the first with ties to that nation. New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Seigenthaler, born to a Thai mother and Swiss father in Switzerland, holds that distinction.<\/p>\n Kannok Leipert went back to Thailand during the summer while growing up, and one of the things he picked up was Muay Thai, a form of martial arts popular in Thailand. He still uses it for conditioning in the offseason, and the fighting skills have come in handy in more ways than one.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was where the confidence (In learning) how to fight and protect myself came from,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s part of my identity, just trying to project my teammates and stand up for guys.\u201d<\/p>\n