The way the story is told, Tyler Weiss was about seven or eight years old and at a weekend hockey practice being held at Fort Bragg.
Tyler's mom, Kelly, recalls an assistant coach during a break telling the kids "none of you will ever be an NHL player" and then being startled by what her son did next.
"He stood up and said, 'Well, I am' and skated off," Kelly Weiss said, laughing.
Tyler Weiss still has that firm belief, still has that pluck about him. Now 17, he is a year away from being NHL draft eligible. The Raleigh, N.C., native wants to hear his name called at the draft and one day be in the best hockey league in the world.
Weiss has spent this past year in USA Hockey's National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Mich. The forward was a first-round pick by the Sarnia Sting in the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection, taken 15th overall in 2016, and is committed to playing college hockey at Boston University.
"He's come a long way, on and off the ice," said Mason Graddock, an assistant coach in the USA Hockey program. "He has elite skills and elite speed, but it's all about becoming a complete player. He's totally bought in. Tyler's in a great place going into his draft year."
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Hartford Whalers moving to North Carolina and becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. In the past two decades, kids such as Weiss have grown up with the sport in the state, some putting on skates and grabbing hockey sticks rather than shooting a basketball or throwing a football.
The Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup in 2006 spiked interest in hockey. Youth programs began to grow. Travel teams developed. Better coaches joined in.
Rod Brind'Amour was the captain and leader of the '06 champs. A son, Skyler, was born in Raleigh, played in the Junior Hurricanes youth program and now is committed to Michigan State. Skyler, 17, could hear his name called in this year's NHL draft.
Josh Wesley, 21, already has had that big moment _ taken by the Hurricanes in the fourth round of the 2014 draft. The son of former Canes defenseman Glen Wesley, another of the '06 Cup stars, Josh was the first locally developed player to be drafted by an NHL team and spent most of this year, his first full professional season, with the Florida Everblades of the ECHL.
"Hockey is growing in the state and its roots are digging in," Rod Brind'Amour, a Canes assistant coach, said. "You can see it in the number of kids who are playing and where they are going."
When Kasperi Kapanen of the Toronto Maple Leafs scored in double overtime a few weeks ago to beat the Washington Capitals in a Stanley Cup playoff thriller, it was mentioned his father, Sami, played for the Hurricanes. Kasperi was born in Finland but had his first hockey experiences in Raleigh.
