If not on the ice, JT Compher would be in one of his three best friend’s basements after nearly every day in elementary school.

The four boys all lived in the same neighborhood — a convenient five-minute walk from the junior high school — so playing pick-up sports was never a problem. If the weather didn’t hold up, they congregated in front of the television and played PlayStation 2 for an endless amount of time.

That is, until, Compher lost a game.

“Sounds familiar,” he said with a smirk. “I guess I broke a few controllers back in the day.”

Those, though, were the mild outbursts: If it were a bad loss, he’d proceed to fight whoever he played — punches, tackling and all.

“As a mom, you’re thinking, ‘oh my god, it’s just a game, it’s just a game,’ ” said Valerie Compher, JT’s mom. “But to them, nothing was just a game. Especially JT.”

This isn’t out of the ordinary for people who know Compher. They understand he’s a competitive perfectionist who, above all else, hates losing.

Maybe his competitiveness is insane. Maybe it’s a bit too intense. Maybe it’s more than any other player on the Michigan hockey team.

Whatever it is, it’s needed for a team that’s failed to live up to expectations the last two seasons.

***

Bob Compher, JT’s father, coached all of his son’s Little League baseball teams — house league and travel.

JT, one of the best players, reached base more times than not. He’d usually steal second and then third, but that didn’t satisfy his inner competitiveness. So Bob developed a play unique to his son, one that would satisfy his son’s adrenaline.

On third base, Compher would look over to his dad as soon as he touched the bag. Then, Bob would perfectly time the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher, and in that short time span, would nod his head toward Compher, signaling him to run. Nearly every time, Compher safely stole home and scored on a play that only he could do.

Despite the base running heroics, though, both Bob and Compher knew his talents were better suited off the diamond.

Compher, an A-team travel baseball player, found even more success playing for the Northbrook Bluehawks, a house league hockey team that was no cut. Compher scored at will and his team never had issues winning titles, including the Northern Illinois Hockey League Pee Wee championship.

But that was the biggest problem; hockey was becoming too easy — playing in house league hockey was stunting his hockey growth.

“People kept coming to us and telling us, ‘He needs to leave,’ ” Valerie said. “It wasn’t until (Director of Northbrook Hockey) Mark Brunner, and his coach Evan Poulakidas came to us and told us he needs to go that it hit us.”

So on he went to a higher level of hockey, leaving no time for baseball, and that was bittersweet. Compher, a family-oriented man, could no longer spend countless afternoons on the diamond with his dad. Bob always knew this would be the case, but he wasn’t upset.

Bob, admittedly, didn’t closely follow hockey so, in a sense, he learned the sport with his son, and JT loved that.

“I didn’t have a dad telling me what to do on the ice,” Compher said. “I never had to score five goals to satisfy him or do certain things. It was ‘if you were working hard, good job.’ ”

It was soon after Compher’s jump to Triple-A Team Illinois that it, too, became simple. The forward notched 39 points in 34 games — at just 15 years old.

***

Compher quickly became a hot commodity amongst the Major-Junior hockey world despite his age. The Waterloo Blackhawks, a U.S. Hockey League team, noticed Compher first and offered him a spot on their team.

The decision seemed obvious for the then-freshman in high school. Competing with kids six years older seemed appealing considering his inherent need of a challenge. That is until Bob and Valerie interjected.

“It was gut wrenching when he walked out of the locker room after making the Waterloo Blackhawks literally two months after he turned 15.” Valerie said. “Especially him saying ‘I want to play here’ and him not thinking about the fact that at the time it was because he was so competitive and he would’ve been the youngest one playing in the league.

“It didn’t really click with him that he’d be moving away. It wasn’t until I said something in the car, ‘You know you’d be moving away?’ that he realized. And then I burst into tears.”

That wouldn’t be the last time Compher, and his family, would have to make a career-changing decision.

***

In 2011, Bob, Valerie and JT were on their way to Ann Arbor to visit the U.S. Hockey’s National Team Development Program, a highly competitive two-year program that boasts the country’s best 17- and-18 year old hockey players. Players go through a rigourous selection process and those selected are required to move to Ann Arbor.

Compher met with program officials and it became clear a future offer to join the U.S. NTDP loomed. While in Ann Arbor, the Comphers figured they’d kill two birds with one stone by also making a stop at the University of Michigan for an unofficial visit and chance for Compher to introduce himself to the coaches.

Already beaming with excitement from a positive meeting with Team USA coaches and officials, the Comphers were in for another unexpected surprise. In that first meeting with Michigan coach Red Berenson, Compher was offered a full-ride scholarship — a thought that never crossed the Comphers’ minds prior to the trip.

“We were kind of shocked; we thought it was an unofficial thing,” Compher said. “It kind of took us aback. We weren’t expecting it and that’s when I thought I could move on in the sport and some day make a living out of it.”

Added Valerie: “We were completely blindsided. We didn’t know it was coming at all. We just went to visit while we were visiting the U.S. team. We all looked at each other like we got hit with a hockey puck in the head because we really didn’t comprehend it.”

Bob jokingly asked Berenson how he knew his son would be a solid hockey player three years down the road. But of course, the offer stood. Better yet, soon after their arrival back to Northbrook, Compher was officially offered a spot to join the NTDP.

This time, though, Compher was ready to leave home. He was mentally and physically prepared to take on USA hockey.

***

Compher could’ve felt invincible. He’d received a NTDP offer and a Michigan scholarship in a short period of time. In other words, he had been accepted to college before most kids his age even take the ACT.

Behind the scenes, though, Valerie and Bob had more news, just not the kind they knew how to tell their son. Bob had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in May — three months before Compher was scheduled to leave for Ann Arbor. But they knew they couldn’t tell JT, knowing full well that he’d dwell on the idea of staying home, ditching the U.S. program.

“We didn’t tell the kids until we had a good game plan, which was August,” Valerie said. “We really waited until right before he left because we didn’t want him to resonate in the fact that he was going to think he was going to stay home.”

So a week before Compher left, Bob and Valerie sat him and his two sisters, Morgan, 18, and Jesse, 14, at the kitchen table to break the news.

“My parents sat us down and my Dad said, ‘In a couple weeks, I’m going into surgery, I’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Luckily they’ve caught it early,’ ” Compher recalled solemnly. “But once you hear “cancer,” it’s cancer.”

Not only did the news linger in the back of his mind, but Compher would be away in Ann Arbor for his first week with the national program for Bob’s ensuing surgery in two weeks. The question wouldn’t leave his mind: should I stay or should I go?

Bob and Valerie helped make the decision easier, telling Compher only one option existed: You’re going to Ann Arbor. Still, Compher kept telling himself he needed to help his dad: He needed to inject his competitiveness into his dad. So the first words out of his mouth after Bob broke the news were that he would stay home. He couldn’t leave his family.

But Valerie held firm. “We would’ve never let him stay home and pass on this opportunity,” she said. So off he went to Ann Arbor.

The first week of U.S. NTDP camp is widely known as the toughest week. Compher said they put him through “the ringer.” The players skate twice a day, condition twice a day and try to adjust to their new home in Ann Arbor. Still, despite the business and distractions, his father’s cancer still remained at the forefront in his head. It stayed that way throughout the week.

Days were long, Compher admitted. But he never thought his dad would lose his battle. Why? Because Compher said his competitive nature stems from his father and the constant support from his billet family, the Karibians. Bob agreed.

“You want to show your family you’re going to do what you got to do to get it done,” he said.

When doctors successfully removed Bob’s cancer, the first person on the phone with Bob was JT.

After the call, Compher said he “took a deep breath” and could focus on what he originally planned to do in Ann Arbor: grow as a hockey player. He could go back to normal — competing harder than anyone else because if he didn’t, he’d feel out of place, and he has no room for regrets.

***

Not only did Compher excel in the first year the NTDP program — notching 50 points in 49 games — but his mastery earned him a spot on the U-18 team for IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship.

Despite being one of the youngest players in the tournament, the challenge was never too great. Compher tallied four goals in nine games and scored a goal in the Gold Medal game against Sweden, which the U.S. won.

In his second year, Compher registered 57 points in 59 games, garnering serious interest from NHL teams.

So Compher went to New York City, home of the 2013 NHL draft. It was given he’d be drafted, so his nerves should’ve been tamer. But when the Buffalo Sabres drafted Compher with the 35th pick, shock ran through his body.

“When you hear your name called, you’re like ‘oh shit, this happened,’ ” Compher recalled. “You give your mom a hug, dad a hug, then you’re gone for an hour.”

Compher finally felt validated for his endless hours of practice, travel to far away rinks and all the off-the-ice conditioning. And to Compher, there was no better way to spend the draft than with Bob and his entire family.

But Compher knew he couldn’t get complacent. He knew he had bigger goals in mind, namely a NCAA Championship. He knew the grind was only going to get tougher.

***

JT Compher is a pest on the ice. He knows it. Every teammate he’s had knows it. But they don’t complain; they understand his motive.

“I’m one of the more annoying guys to play against in practice; I hear it everyday,” Compher said. “I do like to try to get under guys’ skins because some guys need a little bit of fire to get their practice going. If they’re mad at me and it helps them to work harder, it’s good for me, it’s good for them, good for the team.”

Jack Eichel, a teammate of Compher’s on the NTDP team in 2012-13 and current Boston University forward, certainly noticed.

“He is just so good wherever he is,” Eichel, projected to be a top-five pick in the 2015 NHL draft, told NHL.com. “He’s a role model to me and I really look up to him. He’s a great kid and a great leader. Everyone else tries to match him. A guy like that on your team, it’s really good.

“Everyone tries to work as hard as him, and if everyone works as hard as JT, you know you have a good team.”

Junior forward Andrew Copp echoed Eichel’s sentiment. And Copp knows JT’s intensity as well as anyone after he played victim to Compher’s antics last season.

“He’ll hack you, slash you, hit you late,” Copp recalled. “He’ll do anything it takes to get under your skin.

“I hate going against him in practice, but I’d rather have him on my team than anyone else’s team.”

Now on the same line as Compher, Copp no longer has to deal with the slashes or late hits. But he knows just because Compher’s lost one of his targets, his grittiness won’t stop.

Copp said Compher has “crossed the line” several times — something Copp said he never did while a freshman — and the current freshmen are well aware of Compher’s practice intensity. And that doesn’t bother Berenson.

“That’s his DNA: If there’s a loose puck, he’s going to win the battle for it,” Berenson said. “No matter how hard you try, he’s going to try and try harder. He’s got a compete level that doesn’t stop.

“And you know, JT has been an exceptional player ever since he was young, but he doesn’t act that way. He doesn’t wear that mantle.”

Compher has every intention of changing the program around. He’s the most competitive player on a team that hasn’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament two years in a row.

And he’ll do everything in his power to reverse the trend, even if he makes his teammates feel uncomfortable — he doesn’t care. He only cares about raising another banner in Yost Ice Arena.

Even if he has to break a PlayStation controller to do it.