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To ice hockey fans he's the big hitting Cardiff Devil who's a wizard on the ice, but today Max Birbraer reveals the remarkable story behind his arrival in Wales.
It began in his homeland of Kazakhstan and involved him crossing continents, being thrown in jail and serving in the Israeli Army - all before he turned 20.
As a young ice hockey player, Max dared to dream that he could turn his passion into his career, but he had no idea that his pursuit of playing would see him put in jail.
The 29-year-old was brought up in Ust-Kamenogorsk, now known as Oskemen, in the east of Kazakhstan. "I was born in what was probably the biggest ice hockey town in Kazakhstan," he says.
His grandfather's love of ice hockey nudged him onto the rink when he bought six-year-old Max a pair of skates. As a child Max proved to be a natural on the ice and quickly became one of Kazakhstan's top young players and participated in all-Soviet finals. But when he hit his teens his family dropped a bombshell.
"My parents told me when I was 15 that my grandfather and my dad were Jewish and that for the family interest my mum, my dad, me and my sister...