Tyler Fleck fell in love with Oklahoma City and 14 years later, he's there to stay.
The 34-year-old Carlyle native announced his retirement from pro hockey last month after playing 773 games in the Central Hockey League.
Of those games, 545 were played with the Oklahoma City Blazers. Even after the Blazers folded in 2009, and through stints with the Missouri Mavericks and the Tulsa Oilers, Fleck continued to reside in OKC with his wife Melissa and daughter Taryn.
Fleck still recalls fondly his first professional hockey game. He headed south after his Bruins team lost to the Melville Millionaires in the 1999 playoffs.
"I didn't know anything about Oklahoma City, the CHL, the Blazers or anything. We drove through the night and I wasn't supposed to play the next day, but a guy got hurt. We played against the Indianapolis Ice. We won that night in front of 11,000 people and I was just hooked ever since," Fleck said.
"At that time, we were the only ticket in town and people thought we were the show. That was a very good feeling and a great thing to be a part of."
An even greater thing to be part of for Fleck was the CHL championship team he played on in his first full season in the league.
Fleck had 12 points in 55 games that year, along with 166 penalty minutes. He also had two points in 13 playoff games.
"Winning a championship, that was probably the highlight of my career," said Fleck, who was also a two-time all-star.
In 2009, Fleck was also honoured as the first and only CHL player to date to receive the N. Thomas Berry Commitment Cup, a league builders award which is normally reserved for management and front office personnel.
"It was special to be the first player ever to win that award," he said.
Not many players can hang on in minor pro for 14 years, which is reflected in the fact that Fleck played the second-most games in CHL history. He said his longevity is due in part to the fact that he loved playing in Oklahoma.
"I think being kind of a staple here in Oklahoma City, playing with the Blazers for 10 years, I developed an attachment to the Blazers and Oklahoma City much like I did in Estevan, playing there for four years. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the core they wanted to keep around for a lot of years. That's definitely part of it; I think once a player starts bouncing around every couple of years with new teams, moving their family around that's what's tough about minor pro, and I didn't really have to go through that."
Fleck also managed to avoid injuries for the most part, aside from a shoulder injury in 2009-10.
"I'm really fortunate that I haven't been plagued by a whole lot of injuries. That's the biggest thing. I thought a few years ago I was going to retire after I blew my shoulder out, but I came back and played again, and stayed healthy after that.
"This last year was a rough one on me. I played 25 games with a broken hand, and I got a high ankle sprain seven games into the regular season. I probably came back too early, but we were hurting on the back end."
Still, Fleck's style of play - Oilers owner Jeff Lund called him the grittiest player ever to suit up for Tulsa - took its toll.
"I've been playing pro for 14 years and it's been a good run, but the body isn't what it used to be, that's for sure. You get up in the morning and the shoulders are a little stiffer," Fleck said.
"My daughter is turning nine and it feels like I've been gone forever. I want to spend more time with family," he added. "(OKC) is home base and I was missing the family a lot and I think it's time to move on with the next stage of my life."
That next stage is actually in full flight, in the form of Hard Nosed Apparel, a specialty jersey company he and his wife have operated for a couple of years.
"We do a lot of merchandise for CHL teams and specialty jerseys for them. I think that's going to be what I'll probably end up doing, unless the right coaching job comes along," said Fleck.
"Every team in minor hockey now has numerous specialty jersey nights, breast cancer nights or military nights, and they auction them off to support different charities or funds," Fleck explained. "There's a huge market for it. We manufactured all Wichita's jerseys this year and it was weird playing them, with them wearing my jerseys."
Fleck plans to work from home full-time with the jersey business. His annual summer hockey school in Estevan will also continue.
"That's kind of my pride and joy. That school keeps me attached to Estevan and everybody around there."
Although Fleck has plenty of reasons to hang up the skates, he's not pretending that he won't miss it.
"The night I retired, we looked back through some of the old albums. It's kinda sad to see the years go by. The whole run's been a highlight. It really has. It wasn't myself, really, that made those years great, it was the guys I played with.
"That's what I'm going to miss the most, when the next season comes around, and I'm not in the locker room."
