Micheal Ferland: An inspiring journey to the NHL
- Allan Beaver | April 04, 2017
Let's journey in the life of Micheal Ferland and look at what brought him to being a 6'2, 215 lb fearless forward of the Calgary Flames Hockey Club. And at age 24, Ferland is just starting to establish himself as a power forward who is having a career season. In 2016-17 season so far, Ferland has played in 71 games and has scored 15 goals, 9 assists for 24 points.
The journey to the NHL was not paved in gold. It was a journey of taking a good honest inventory of making changes in life and putting in the hard work and perseverance to achieve a childhood dream of someday playing in the National Hockey League.
Ferland was born in the community of Swan River, Manitoba, its population having hovered around 4,000 for the past few decades. Swan River is located in Central Manitoba just east of the Saskatchewan border.
Michael was raised by a single mother who made a lot of sacrifices in order to allow her son to play hockey. Amazingly, he played in only a hockey house league in Brandon, Manitoba from ages eight to 15 and the NHL dream never seemed possible to him, simply without many resources available.
With financial challenges, Ferland's mother struggled to fund her son's hockey and he ended up receiving assistance from KidSport and the Manitoba Métis Foundation in order to purchase equipment and pursue his hockey dream. This is just one example of what great organizations can help create. Michaels’ sister also gave up her chance to play sports in order to let Michael play, as the family couldn’t afford for two children in sports.
Ferland went on to be invited to a tryout by the midget AAA Brandon Wheat Kings and promptly earned a spot on the team. After he made the Wheat Kings Midget team, families of his Swan River teammates chipped in to pay for his hockey registration fees to keep the dream alive.
When Ferland was 17 years of age, he began his WHL career playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings. He scored 28 points in 61 regular season games for Brandon, and helped his team to third round of the playoffs. He played five Memorial Cup games for Brandon, in the tournament as they were the host team.
That summer, the Calgary Flames selected Micheal Ferland with their fifth round pick at 133rd overall. Ferland would stay in Brandon for the next two seasons, where he would tally 164 points and 204 PIM combined in all games played.
Before the 2012-2013 season began, Ferland had been accused of assault and aggravated assault at a Cochrane bar just west of Calgary. Eventually, he was acquitted of his charges, and there was little doubt that this affected him as he played two hockey seasons while facing charges.
As the 2012-2013 season began, with him making his professional debut with the Abbotsford Heat. It was short lived. After seven games he had registered no points and 10 PIM. He was promptly sent down to the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. Again, he was only in Utah for a short stay as after three games he was sent back to the WHL for the remainder of the season.
Upon returning to Brandon, Michael debated retiring from hockey entirely as he had become unhappy during the turmoil that had been his season so far. He was promptly traded to the Saskatoon Blades as a playoff rental after playing only four games in Brandon that season. Michael would then go on to persevere and find it within himself to work to turn the Blades' season around, helping the team to reel off 18 consecutive wins on their way to hosting the 2013 Memorial Cup. He ended his junior career with 29 points in 26 games for the Blades.
While the majority of us can't directly relate to the struggles of playing an NHL game or fighting such nasty opponents, Ferland has had to battle twice as hard to prove himself despite the struggles that he went through over the last 18 months during his battle with alcohol.
We've all known many others who have gone through a similar battle with addiction and the strides that Ferland has made have given us the motivation and inspiration to like Micheal the person even more than Michael the hockey player. Micheal has overcome that and more and not only made him a stronger person but a better all around personality who is very humble and does not take for granted in playing in the National Hockey League.
“Each game that I play in the NHL, I thank God for being given me the opportunity to still showcase my talent and keep working harder to stay with the Calgary Flames,” says Ferland.
Perhaps his biggest supporter is his coach Bob Hartley. The coach challenged him by telling Ferland that if he was ready to make a commitment to his life that he could help him. Hartley emphasized the importance of choosing to improve his life before his career and that was a message Ferland took to heart and still does to this day.
Ferland entered a rehab facility and slowly began on his healing journey from the addiction of alcoholism. He has known many very close to him that have fallen hard to the addiction and has certainly learned from those examples. On March 27, 2017, he celebrated three years of sobriety.
It's hard to believe that approximately over a year now that Ferland was in rehab and now he's thrashing opponents around and finding his technique of scoring goals.
Ferland began this season impressing the brass with his mix of physical play and scoring ability during training camp. He had also dropped weight down to 215 lbs from 260 lbs two seasons ago.
The evolution of Micheal Ferland making an impact on the Calgary Flames is quite the story and easily motivates his teammates and opponents to seek a higher power and to deal with the demons of the past.
There were definitely no freebies during Micheal Ferland's long journey to where he is today. He has achieved everything through support from friends and family, his own hard work and perseverance, and the never quit attitude he has.
Micheal Ferland has no doubt become a fan favorite in Calgary over such a short span. He has made his game into a unique one, and plays the kind of game that some wusses can't handle. And in stating that, Micheal has fought with the so called best enforcers of the NHL and has proved himself to be a tough young man that is sure to make an impact with his scoring instead of knocking out his more experienced opponents.
Micheal Ferland is making his stay with the Calgary Flames a long tenure and only he can determine how far he can go. With what many Flames have witnessed, he is sure to make an impact for many years to come.