From Ontario to Cleveland and Germany to Grand Rapids, forward Tyler Angle always finds a way to make the most of his time.

Last summer, Tyler Angle was having a rare day off in Thorold, Ontario, his hometown, situated less than 10 miles west of Niagara Falls.

With his beloved Aussiedoodle Nora at his side, Angle walked along the historic Welland Canal, which runs directly through town. It’s peaceful there, serene but powerful.

As he and Nora strode along the canal, he thought about what he might do next with his day. Golf? A visit to a local winery, perhaps? Wayne Gretzky’s nearby winery was one of many choices in the lush grape-growing region of the Niagara Escarpment. 

If only the next phase of his career was as easy to answer as his next move on his day off. The quickly approaching hockey season was a giant question mark. 

“Last summer was a hard one,” said the 25-year-old Angle. Having just returned from a year playing hockey in Germany, preceded by four seasons with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, he was now a free agent. His agent was calling team GMs, trying to find a good fit for the forward. Angle was skating with the Belleville Senators, Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, but nothing was really gelling and the summer was slipping away fast. 

“It was do or die,” he said of claiming another chance to play pro hockey in North America. Europe was an option in his back pocket, but he really wanted another shot at the NHL. So he kept skating, believing, and hoping. And he waited for the phone to ring.

Preloaded for Hockey 

Born in Niagara Falls as the middle child of Michelle and Todd Angle, young Tyler began playing hockey at age 4, wearing hand-me-down equipment from older brother James. The family, which includes younger sister Jenna, bought a house in Thorold when he was a little boy, on the perfect street to dream of hoisting big silver cups someday. 

“I grew up on an athletic street, where everyone who built [houses] there knew each other already,” he said. Preloaded with hockey people, there was always a street hockey game going on in the summer, and in the winter there was lots of ice time on the rink in his backyard.

One of Angle’s neighborhood friends was Conor Timmins, now a defenseman for the Buffalo Sabres. “Conor was two years older than me and was a role model for me,” said Angle, who hustled to keep up with Timmins and older boys such as his brother. “I thought I was better than him, but he was actually better than me,” Angle said.

Angle was used to wearing James’ secondhand gear. “Dad was strict about buying unnecessary new hockey equipment,” said Angle. Todd made an exception, though, the time he accidentally backed his car over Tyler’s hockey bag. 

When Angle was 15, it was time to choose which sport he would pursue. Hockey was an obvious choice, but he also played and loved lacrosse, Canada’s national summer sport. 

He chose hockey, because “I wanted to make a living.” By age 16, that decision was set in stone. Timmins had already carved a path into the Ontario Hockey League and Angle followed, heading south to the Windsor Spitfires. 

Dirty Dangle, the Move, and the Horse

“I love Windsor,” Angle said, unequivocally. The industrial border city over the Detroit River from the Red Wings’ home gets a bad rap, but Angle is having none of it. “The hockey there is unbelievable and there’s tons of boating,” he said. “It’s beautiful.”

Playing there for parts of four seasons, Angle really got to know the place. His billet mom, Julie, was wonderful and helped him feel at home. “She fed me and took care of me,” he said. “She was great.”

So was his junior hockey career.  Besides recording 132 points (61 goals and 71 assists) in 228 OHL games, the cherry on top was winning junior hockey’s most coveted trophy. “In my first season we won the Memorial Cup,” Angle said. “They say that is the hardest trophy to win because you only have four years to win it.” Like most players who play junior hockey, Angle formed some of the most enduring friendships of his life thus far with his Spitfire teammates, including current Winnipeg Jet Gabe Vilardi.

Don Cherry, the infamous former commentator on “Hockey Night in Canada,” even took notice, labeling one of Angle’s hockey moves a “Dirty Dangle.” It was Oct. 18, 2019, when this “Dangle” dropped in a game between the Spitfires and rival London Knights. It was one of those goals you could never replicate, a between-the-legs-and-over-the-shoulder-of-the-goalie number, magical to watch, impossible to make up. It went viral, and “Hockey Night in Canada” showed the clip on its national broadcast with Cherry, as usual, providing a technicolor description of the play. “He said something like, ‘One of those hot dog moves by a young guy, what a dirty dangle!’”

Enter Angle’s proud grandpa, Ralph, who owns thoroughbred racing horses. After watching the clip of his grandson lighting up “Hockey Night in Canada,” he named a horse “Dirty Dangle” in young Tyler’s honor. 

“I love horses,” Angle said. “I love going to the racetrack and hanging around the [business]. My grandpa always sends me photos of horses he has bought or is thinking of buying.” 

Could the name itself be sprinkled with fairy dust? Dirty Dangle started as a crazy-angled, viral goal, and then the namesake creature had a spellbinding gallop, winning its first big race.

“Hi, I’m Sid”

Part of being a hockey player means waiting for the phone to ring. Such was the case for Angle during the 2019 NHL Draft. “Waiting for the call was stressful.”

When the call came through, Angle learned he had been selected in the seventh round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. By early September, Angle was thrown into the deep end with his first NHL training camp. 

“In my first camp I was fighting for a spot on the team with guys I played in NHL video games,” he said, including the late Johnny Gaudreau.

Returning to Windsor for his fourth season, Angle co-led the Spitfires by earning 67 points in 62 regular-season games. He was lighting up the goal lamp like nobody’s business until he was faced with the reality of COVID-19. Things shut down hard and fast, and the remainder of the 2019-20 season was cancelled. 

With the 2020–21 season delayed due to the continuing pandemic, and junior hockey on hiatus for the season, Angle signed an amateur tryout contract with the Blue Jackets' AHL affiliate in Cleveland on Jan. 21, 2021. Impressed with Angle’s precise passing and resourcefulness on the ice, the Blue Jackets signed him to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Angle continued to produce offensively for the Monsters, and at the end of the 2022-23 season he got the call that all hockey players dream of. He was headed up to the NHL.

Angle’s family flew up to Columbus for the game on April 13, 2023. Todd was only slightly delayed. He had flown to Florida for vacation, and no sooner had he touched down than his son rang: “Dad, I just got called up.” Quicker than you could say “dream come true,” Todd pivoted and flew to Ohio. “No way he was missing that game,” said Angle.

And what a game it was. Angle took NHL ice against his favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and his childhood idol Sidney Crosby. The Blue Jackets pulled off a 3-2 win, and Crosby approached Angle after the game. “He introduced himself to me and said something like, ‘Nice to meet another good Canadian guy out here,’” Angle said. “He took pictures with me and my family.” 

The thrill continued the next night, when Angle scored his first NHL goal in just his second game, helping the Blue Jackets to a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres. 

Though he was called up again for two games the next season, Angle mainly played for the Monsters, who share Rocket Arena with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. In Cleveland, as in Windsor, Angle had no trouble finding stuff to do on his days off. He indulged in the city’s “incredible” food scene, scored free tickets to a Cavs game or caught an exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 

By the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, however, his time in Ohio was closing with the end of his contract. It was time to await his next opportunity.

Guten Tag, Düsseldorf

That was when Germany called. For Düsseldorfer EG of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Angle was a perfect fit, the “last piece of the puzzle” for the squad. In the German fashion capital, “they love their [foreign players],” Angle said. “One time they had my picture on a tower in the city.”

Angle flourished there, opting to take German lessons in his free time as well as explore all the historic city had to offer. During his year there, Angle traveled to Spain and France and attended a pro soccer game. At Christmas, his family flew to Germany, bringing Nora with them, as they all enjoyed the fabled Christmas markets of Düsseldorf. 

But when the season ended, Angle knew it was time to go home to Canada and Thorold. As much as he reveled in his German experience, he definitely wanted another crack at the NHL.

Griff Calling

The phone rang on Oct. 8. It was two days before the start of the 2025-26 AHL season, and Shawn Horcoff, the GM of the Griffins, was on the line, offering Angle a one-year contract. 

“I love it,” he said of the city and playing for the Griffins. “[The team] has a passionate fan base,” said Angle, not to mention a positive, winning culture. “When I was younger, I was a goal scorer, but now I am a pass-first kind of guy.” Through his first 41 games of the season, Angle registered 19 points, including 15 assists. 

“The guys in the [locker] room make it amazing,” he said of the team culture. “The coaches trust the captains and leave much of the communicating to them. There is trust because our older guys listen to us. Not many teams do this.”

Angle has learned to make the most of his downtime in Grand Rapids, whether the movie buff is critiquing a big-screen flick (“Marty Supreme” and “Avatar” are recent favorites), taking in a Grand Rapids Rise volleyball match, or relishing “the best burgers ever” at Gin Gins.

About the only thing he hasn’t done yet is see a concert at Van Andel Arena, his home away from home. “They say the acoustics are perfect there,” said Angle. Sounds like the ideal way for him to spend his next day off.

Lorilee Craker is the author of 16 books, including Anne of Green Gables, My Daughter and Me, the CBA and ECPA bestseller My Journey to Heaven with Marv Besteman, the Audie Awards nominee Money Secrets of the Amish, and the New York Times bestseller Through the Storm with Lynne Spears. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, she lives in a century-old house in Grand Rapids, with her husband, pets, and various international students from around the world. She has loved hockey since becoming a card-carrying member of the Winnipeg Jets Junior Booster Club at age 11.

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins