Chen, who was born and grew up in Beijing, China, went to the mall with his mom when he was six-years-old. They met a few other families, with the moms wanting to shop and the kids wanting to play. The rambunctious scallywags were swiftly loaded into a car and dropped off at a nearby rink.
Stay. Out. Of. Trouble.
Chen found the opposite of mischief. He discovered his passion.
"We saw two kids with hockey gear on and watched them," said Chen, Tuesday afternoon at UBC. "It looked like a real gentleman's sport and we wanted to pick it up. I was also a really chubby kid back then and wanted to lose some weight, so I thought it looked like good cardio."
Chen's uncle lived in Sweden, where hockey is slightly bigger than in China, and he got equipment for Simon. From there it's been hockey, hockey, hockey for the 20-year-old.
Chen, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound defenceman, played for the BCHL's Cowichan Valley Capitals last season (winning the team's Most Improved Player award above), following two years playing prep school hockey at Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts. He relocated to Cowichan Valley, on Vancouver Island, looking for a better opportunity to develop his skills. He found it, and now he's on the same ice as Canucks 1st round picks Brock Boeser, Olli Juolevi and Elias Pettersson.