Andrew Carlson was called into the coach’s office following his North American Hockey League tryout for the Austin Bruins.

He had made it as far as a player could in the process. The final curtain to unveil the next level of the young player’s career in hockey was waiting behind that door.

He walked into the office for his exit interview. The final moment where he would find out if the next step in his dream to play hockey at a high level would become a reality or slip just beyond his grasp with a simple statement.

“You didn’t make the team.”

“Sit down,” the coach said with a blank expression on his face. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but we’ve decided not to put you on the final roster. We don’t think you are a good enough skater. On the ice, you were just a bit too slow … one step behind. You are just too small to compete at this level.”

Those words might have struck the hearts of many, but not Carlson. He has heard them all before.

He is different. He is humble. He is determined.

What others may take as sharp criticism, Carlson finds as motivation. He uses it to fuel himself to become the best player he can be.

It has been this way for most of his hockey life. Since his days at Churchill High School playing for the Chargers, he has been told that he is too small. The sophomore’s 140-pound frame has defined him rather than his play. His high school coach hardly gave him a look for that reason.

Following high school, Carlson took the path that many budding hockey players take — junior hockey. He hadn’t been able to show much of his skill in high school, so he latched on with a small tier-III team in an independent league four hours away from his hometown of Livonia.

The trip was short-lived, however, and with the help of his former coach, Carlson made the move to NA3HL team, the Rochester Ice Hawks.

But upon his arrival, he ran into more problems. He just didn’t fit on a team that went 34-9-2 along with a national tournament bid.

“That 2010-11 team was phenomenal,” said Ice Hawks head coach Nick Fatis. “He came in a couple months later than the other guys. He was also a lot younger, so it was hard to find playing time on the top three lines. I knew he wanted more.”

That thirst for playing time led Carlson to Flint, Mich. with the Michigan Mountain Cats, where he gained more playing time, a chance to improve and, more importantly, a chance to prove his doubters wrong.

“My high school coach told me that I would never play at juniors, never at the college level,” Carlson said. “Even in mites [as a 7-year-old], coaches were telling me that I was too small. I’ve always been battling my whole life. I’m not strong enough, not fast enough, not good enough. That is what motivated me to work hard.”

That motivation coupled with Carlson’s new-found confidence with the Mountain Cats raised some eyebrows at his former team — the Ice Hawks. He added muscle, he became one step faster and found a knack to put the puck on a teammate’s stick or put it in the back of the net.

Coach Fatis noticed.

“It was like a video game,” Fatis said about Carlson’s major improvement. “He didn’t just gain one, two or three attributes in each category, he gained ten in all categories. He matured to another level and grew into his game. It took me 10 minutes to see that he had improved tremendously.”

So there he was, back at his old team where he had struggled to find playing time only a year earlier and somehow he did not let the failure stop him. He braved through the naysayers and made his way to a major NA3HL team.

This time would be different from previous experiences. Carlson showed just how much he had improved and nobody could stop him.

He exploded with 20 goals and 40 assists in 45 games and helped his team to one of its best seasons in its storied history.

He wasn’t done there.

Carlson helped the Ice Hawks to the division semifinal, where the season came to an end. It wasn’t because of Carlson, though, as he contributed four goals and two assists in his team’s four playoff games.

“It was good to have all that hard work pay off,” Carlson said.

“A lot of it is because of a good team,” he continued humbly, which is his style. “I played with some really good linemates that year and they both had more than 60 points, like I did. That team was just really good. I was a product of the situation.”

After the season ended, Carlson was interested in playing hockey at the next level. His assistant coach from the Ice Hawks had some connections with the Hamline University Division III hockey program. The coach at the time, Doc DelCastillo, came to some of Carlson’s games with the Ice Hawks and liked what he saw.

DelCastillo talked to Carlson after the season and eventually invited him to the program.

Carlson, being a freshman, didn’t get much playing time, but started to find his stride in the final 10 games of the 2013-14 season with two goals and two assists.

Before he could get a chance at a full season of playing time, Hamline saw a head coaching change in the men’s hockey program and with it came Carlson’s exit from college hockey.

“With a new coach, he kind of just cleared house,” Carlson said. “Only two guys in my class are still there. It was a matter of circumstance. It happens at the Division III level. He just went a different direction.”

Carlson returned to where he had been just a few years before — cut from a team. But he has faced this type of adversity his whole life and doesn’t intend to stop now.

He went to Fatis to seek another destination. Fatis promptly called one of the Ice Hawks assistant coaches who played for the Cyclone Hockey team in college. That got Carlson in contact with the Cyclones. He liked the sound of the program and transferred during the 2014-15 Winter Break.

Carlson had his first taste of Cyclone Hockey against Illinois, and the team pulled off a 4-2 victory. He took the next night off because the team was easing him into a role.

“He has a bit of a challenge coming in halfway through the season and picking up systems and all of that,” said Cyclone Hockey coach Jason Fairman after Carlson’s first game. “It’s going to take a little bit to get acclimated, but that’s understandable and he got off to a solid start tonight.”

Carlson knows that nothing has been handed to him and his new opportunity for the Cyclones is nothing new. But he also knows that he can bring something special to the table.

“I see myself as an all-around player,” Carlson said. “I focus on defense and all zones. I work hard and finish checks. If I put in an honest effort, the points will come. That’s what I do. I’ve definitely worked hard for everything I’ve been given.”