Drawing a path to the NHL
“You might have to wait, he’ll be the last one off the ice.”
That’s the first thing the Admirals said to me when I dropped by practice to talk to Tyler Moy. A perfectionist in every way, Tyler is an artist. But it’s not just the way he skates like a brush stroke through the ice that make him a special athlete. It’s his actual brush strokes. Tyler’s grandmother taught him how to paint growing up and the art bug stuck with him.
“It’s a great release from the everyday stresses. It’s something I take a lot of pride in.” Tyler tells me “It gets your mind off things. It’s something that I really enjoy.”
He’s not limited to a pen and paper. The Admirals went to a pumpkin patch for a team event this year. Tyler amazed his teammates but it wasn’t close to good enough for the perfectionist.
“So the next day I went back by myself and did a new one. So I did the Joker. That one I was proud of.”
It’s that work ethic that sets Tyler apart. The same work ethic that allows him to spend months on a drawing has him one step away from the NHL.
“Having that work ethic and persistence to be patient and have the trust that you are going to get it and figure it out. There’s frustrating times in art when I can’t figure out why this doesn’t look like I want it to and hockey is similar where it’s why can’t you make this movement.”
Still not sold that I’m painting a portrait of the hardest working man in hockey? Last year Tyler made his Admirals debut while he was finishing up college…at Harvard
“I’ll be the first to tell you it wasn’t easy," Tyler notes “I lost a lot of sleep doing late nights at the library.”
He graduated with a degree in human evolutionary biology but like any artist his work is never finished. After his hockey career ends Tyler plans to go back to grad school.
“The biggest thing is I want to help people. I've always had this idea that I want to rehabilitate paralyzed patients.”
But first he has his sights set on drawing a path to the NHL.
“I’d love to play hockey for as long as possible. Hockey is my one true love. I always had this internal belief that I’m going to make it. I think whatever path that takes me on I’m just excited and I’m going to put my nose to the ground and work hard.”