CALGARY -- On what would turn out to be the most important morning of Micheal Ferland's life, he was not where he was supposed to be.

It was March 2014. Ferland, playing for the Flames' AHL affilate Abbotsford Heat, suffered a season-ending knee injury and went to Calgary for his rehab. Calgary Flames head coach Bob Hartley and team president Brian Burke made the decision that popular goaltending coach Clint Malarchuk was going to take a leave from the team to get his personal life in order. Hartley and Burke were going to tell the team and Hartley specifically wanted Ferland to be at that meeting.

Hartley had seen the signs in the young man from Swan River, Manitoba. The uneven play. The reports of late nights at local bars. The hangovers in the morning.

He wanted Ferland to hear that Malarchuk was going to get help for his own personal demons.

But when Hartley looked out at the group of players, he did not see Ferland, who had been at the rink earlier for treatment on his knee.

The coach was not pleased.

Hartley asked one of his staffers to get Ferland on the phone and have him come back to the rink.

When the two were alone in his office, Hartley repeated the message he had delivered on a number of occasions: Do you need help?

“I said, 'Listen, here’s what happened: I know you’re always at that bar. I know you’re always with your friends in the little village around here. Always boozing,'" Hartley recalled telling Ferland. "I said, 'I caught you; you didn’t see me, but I caught you puking your guts out at 7:30 in the morning in the bathroom.' And I said, 'Talking to people around here, you have a good morning, you have an awful morning, you have a good morning, you have an awful morning. This is not normal.'"

“And I said, 'I know why you’re not normal: because you have a drinking problem.' And I said, 'For me, your career is wavering. You’re showing promises, we’re disappointed, you’re showing promises, you’re disappointed. Me as a coach, my job is to win hockey games. But inside the coach there’s a human being, and I know that you have a problem.'"

Finally, he told Ferland that he could not live with himself if in 10 years he looked back on this moment and had done nothing.

"I said, 'You have a problem. ... The biggest challenge for you is to tell me, yes I have a problem,'" the coach said. "I don’t want to save your career, I want to save your life, because if you don’t have a life, you’re not going to have a career.'"

Ferland broke down. Yes, he did need help. He had a drinking problem and did not know how to stop it.

"There were times I knew I had a problem, but I didn’t know what to say to anyone," Ferland told ESPN.com. "I didn’t know what people would think. I kept having meetings with Bob, and he’d always [say], 'If there’s anything we can do to help you, if you think you have a problem with any off-ice issues, just let us know.' And I’m thinking in my head, 'No, I can’t tell these guys.' But once I finally told him I needed help, I broke down in his office. Ever since that day it’s been uphill ever since."

For Micheal Ferland, this moment changed everything.

Burke joined Hartley and Ferland, and the three mapped out a plan for Ferland to immediately enter a rehab facility in California.

"I remember leaving the rink that day I felt like I had a lot of weight off my shoulders," Ferland said. "I was just really looking forward to the next chapter of my life. I’ve said it before, I’ve talked with a lot of people and they’ve told me you’ll see your life unfold in front of you [by being sober]. It’s the best decision they’ve ever made, and I always used to wonder, I always used to think what that meant. Now I can see. I’ve always dreamt about playing in the NHL and having a good lifestyle, and now it’s all just kind of unfolding in front of me as we speak. It’s for sure one of the best decisions I’ve ever made."

Ferland then called people who were important in his life. His family, of course, and his agent, Jason Davidson, in Saskatoon.

Ferland was Davidson’s first client, and their relationship transcended the normal player-agent dynamic. Davidson was taken aback by Ferland’s news, but he's had nothing but praise for the work Ferland has put into getting sober and getting his career back on track.

"Micheal is more in touch with what it takes to be a professional than if he wasn’t sober," Davidson said. "You’ve got to know what you want, and I think that’s what sobriety has brought Micheal; he knows what he wants, and he knows how to go get it."

The 23-year-old was born in Swan River, Manitoba, the middle of three children. Ferland’s mother raised the children on her own, and it was not an easy life.

Still, he recalls his mother doing her best in spite of the circumstances.

"It was tough growing up. I had an older sister and had a younger brother when I turned 9, so it got even tougher then. But somehow she found a way to make it work. Like I’ve said a thousand times, I’m just grateful to her and all her sacrifices," Ferland said of his mother. "She’s my No. 1 fan. She watches all my games. I talk to her almost every day. She’s been a hockey fan before I even started playing."

Growing up with a love of the game, Ferland's first set of hockey equipment was handed down from his aunt because his family couldn't afford it.

"I remember I got my first set of hockey equipment from my cousin Darnell. He was two years older than me. I must have been 5 or 6 and his mom called my mom and told her we have something over here for Micheal to come and pick it up," Ferland recalled. "Walked a couple of blocks down the street and showed up and there’s a hockey bag full of all his extra hockey stuff and there’s some forms she wanted me to get my mom signed [for minor hockey]. I remember carrying my bag home and I was so excited."

Ferland played junior hockey in Brandon for Kelly McCrimmon, one of the most respected men in major junior hockey. Ferland played a hard-nosed style of hockey but also revealed a fine set of offensive skills, registering 96 points in 2011-12 after being drafted by the Flames with the 133rd pick in 2010.

It was while playing in juniors that he met his girlfriend, Kayleigh Chapman, while playing shinny hockey five years ago this coming August.

Ferland made her laugh, and the two have been together since even though she has been attending Bemidji State University in Minnesota on a hockey scholarship.

Chapman, who is from Virden, Manitoba, about 40 minutes west of Brandon, was among the people Ferland called the day of his meeting with Hartley.

Because they were living in separate cities, she said she wasn’t aware of Ferland’s alcohol issues. But she is proud of him for having confronted those issues head-on.

"I didn’t even really realize it. He kind of hid it from me," she said. "I didn’t know about it until he needed help.

"He called me that morning and told me what he was doing. I just knew I would support him through everything."

It’s been more than a year since Ferland left Hartley’s office and walked into a new future. The changes have been striking, the impact on his life immeasurable.

"I just see he doesn’t have as much anger," Chapman said. "He’s a lot more cool and collected all the time.

"It’s a great feeling. And it’s really good to see that he wants to help other people."

Indeed, in talking about his struggles with alcohol, Ferland has come to understand that he has a platform as a pro hockey player to potentially help other young people step out of the shadows and ask for help. It’s a role he is keen to embrace.

"He is a changed man," Hartley said. "He is still that lovable kid and everything, but he’s on the positive track. He’s fun to work with. He respects people. He’s a great kid.

"He wants to help people, and that’s going to be the best part. Not only will he be a force for us on the ice, but this kid has a big heart."

It’s hard to imagine things could have turned out any better for a young man who found the courage to ask for help from his employers. It’s a journey that has seen the player and the organization in lockstep from the outset.

It’s a dynamic that has not gone unnoticed in the locker room.

”I think it’s tremendous. I mean the support they’ve shown him. It just goes to show you these things happen, I don’t want to say a lot, but in sports in general, these things happen," Flames forward David Jones said. "I was injured last year at the end of the season, and he was up here working out and rehabbing himself. He’s just a great kid. He’s one of those guys he’s fun to be around every day.

"I hear he has some difficulties and the team just did all they could to help him out. It’s great to see him finally get an opportunity to play in the NHL in the season, and then for him to make such a difference for us in the playoffs has just been great.

"I mean, it’s a family here. There’s a lot of places you could be that would kind of rip up your contract and make you sort of deal with it on your own. It’s been the complete opposite here. They sent him away to get help and he’s come back a better person and he’s a huge part of our team. I can’t really say enough about what they’ve done for him."

Although he has been injured of late and has missed the past couple of games against the Anaheim Ducks, Ferland was a big part of the Flames’ first-round win over the Vancouver Canucks.

In a short period of time, he has become a fan favorite in Calgary.

"Before I became sober, I couldn’t imagine being where I am right now," Ferland said. "I had a lot of people reach out to help me. ... Without their support and them helping me the way they did, it’s hard to say where I’d be right now. I don’t think I’d be where I am right now, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’d be playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don’t even know if I’d still be playing hockey."