The Washington Capitals begin a three-game road trip Tuesday in Calgary against the Flames. For most on the Washington roster, it’s just another game on the 2008-09 season slate. For Tyler Sloan, it’s the apex of his hockey career to date. Sloan, who has bounced around in the minor leagues from Syracuse, New York to Dayton, Ohio to Las Vegas and finally to Hershey, has been waiting for this moment his entire hockey life. Tonight, Tyler Sloan pulls on the uniform of an NHL team for the first time, and he’ll do so in his hometown of Calgary. The journey for him has been long and has many detours, but tonight at the Saddledome, it will all be worth it.


Two and a half years, ago, this day probably felt to Tyler like it would never come. I remember very well sitting in the Cumberland County Civic Center among head coach Bruce Boudreau, President/GM Doug Yingst and assistant coach Bob Woods and the discussion that was taking place. The Bears, in short, had a problem. Dean Arsene had suffered what the public found later was broken ribs in the Game 4 clincher of the East Division Finals against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Mark Wotton and Lawrence Nycholat were hurting as well. Depth among defenseman had dipped to a new low that playoff year, and Hershey was fresh out of able-bodied backliners. The conversation among the powers that be in the Bears organization centered on who to bring in. The problem, besides the obvious, was who was available. There were a lot of guys out there in late May, but a lot of guys hadn’t been skating for a month or more. In a fight with the Portland Pirates, a guy from the ECHL could be a huge liability, going up against better competition and being out of shape. So who had been playing recently and could come in and help? Preferably with AHL experience? The answer turned out to be Tyler Sloan.


The Las Vegas Wranglers had a great year in the ECHL in 2005-06. Posting a 53-13-6 regular season record, the Wranglers made it to the third round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs that season. For Tyler Sloan, however, there was some latent disappointment. After playing in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization for parts of four seasons, no AHL team signed him for 2005-06. In fact, Sloan played just 14 games for Syracuse in 2004-05. After playing in 69 contests for the Crunch the season before, there was suddenly no room on the back line at the War Memorial. The NHL lockout had sent an influx of young talent to the AHL that fall, before a full season of Armageddon had descended on the game, and for many including Tyler Sloan, they were squeezed out to lower leagues. Sloan spent most of that year in Dayton, waiting, hoping for a chance to at least get back to central New York. Those chances were few and far between, and in the summer of 2005, he was a man without a team. Many people visit Las Vegas in the hopes of getting rich quick. For Sloan, it was more like getting knocked down the ladder. He played in 48 games for Las Vegas in 2005-06, another 13 games in the playoffs, and did get a brief taste of AHL action during the regular season. The Manitoba Moose needed a fill-in for four games in one stretch. Sloan got the call, but was quickly returned to Nevada. Las Vegas was bounced from the postseason in mid-May, and a season that had to feel like a long way from the NHL was over. Or at least he thought it was over. Out of the blue, a phone call from the other side of the country changed everything.


I visited Washington on October 1 of this year, just days before Tyler was assigned to Hershey. He recounted for me that day what happened next. Sloan was in Vegas not long after the season, and was on the golf course when his cell phone rang. On the other end was Doug Yingst. The Bears were in the Conference Finals and needed a defenseman. So Sloan went to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas and made his way all the way across the country to Portland, Maine to dress for Hershey on May 19, 2006 in Game 1 against the Pirates. “From there, I got the contract and made it. I have to give a lot of credit to Woody (Bob Woods) and Bruce (Boudreau) because they’ve given me a lot of opportunity here and in Hershey” Sloan said that day in Arlington. Sloan wasn’t part of the team that ultimately beat Milwaukee for the Calder Cup in 2006, but the die had been cast for his chances the following season.


The best moments of Tyler Sloan’s hockey career to date have come in central Pennsylvania. 68 games in Hershey in 2006-07 and a trip to the Calder Cup Finals. 56 more games last season with the Bears and another playoff appearance. And last November, his coach with Hershey was promoted to be the bench boss in Washington with the Capitals. Going to camp this past fall, Sloan knew the dream was getting closer to reality. “Every day, it’s so exciting to come to the rink and know how close you are” Sloan said about being in Washington late in training camp. “You’re right there, you know, and if it doesn’t happen right off the bat here, I feel at some point this year I’m going to get my opportunity and I know now that I can play here and I can stick and fit right in.” As it turned out, less than 48 hours after we talked, Sloan was sent to Hershey. The dream would have to wait.


This past Saturday night, Tyler Sloan played in his 357th minor league hockey game. Ironically enough, it came against his first AHL team, the Syracuse Crunch. Then word came from head coach Bob Woods to him on Sunday. The Capitals need a defenseman to go on the trip out west. You’re going to Washington; you’re going to the NHL. Ironic again, because it was going out west three years ago that had to have seemed like the low-point of his hockey career. It was a long journey for Tyler, but he finally will have a chance to pull on the sweater of an NHL team Tuesday. All the sweeter, he’ll do it in his hometown of Calgary. How many times must he have dreamed of playing at the Saddledome as a kid, watching his hometown Flames? Hoping perhaps, that one day, he’d skate there too alongside his heroes. I’m sure he pictured his family there to see him as well, and they’ll be there tonight. But in a twist of fate, his father Fred is scrambling to get there.


Sunday morning, I breezed by Fred Sloan, Tyler’s dad, heading to the radio booth. I had long enough to say hello, but admittedly never broke stride in my pregame rush. I wish I had. He had just gotten the news that his son was going up to Washington, but he had just DRIVEN from Calgary to come see his son play for the Bears in Hershey for the home opener Saturday. Now, his son was being whisked away to play in Calgary, and Fred found himself in central Pennsylvania with two days to return to Alberta. Unless you have a rocket launcher on the back of your car, one cannot drive to Calgary from Hershey in that span of time. So today, Fred is on a flight, with his car in Hershey, to see the dream realized at Pengrowth Saddledome tonight in downtown Calgary. Not having a car at your disposal is small potatoes compared to seeing your son play in the National Hockey League.


How long Tyler is in the NHL remains to be seen. It might just be this trip, it might be longer, it might be forever. But he’s made it. After a career of twists and turns across North America, his journey ends at home in Calgary. Congratulations to a guy that has endured a lot for the sake of a dream, and despite the obstacles in his path, made it happen. Go get ‘em Tyler!