It’s 6:39 p.m., 21 minutes before an Iowa Heartlanders game at Xtream Arena. Players have vacated the rink after going through pregame warmups.

Yet, one skater remains.

With a minute left on the clock before the warmup period is over, Iowa center Tyler Mosienko skates right in front of an empty goal at the south end of the arena.

The 37-year-old flips the puck on his stick, and then flings the black disk multiple times into the net until he’s required to exit the ice.

Now in his 16th season of professional hockey, Mosienko provides veteran experience to a young Heartlander squad. After spending time in the ECHL, AHL, as well as Japan, England, France, and Germany for his first 15 professional seasons, he took the past year and half off from playing hockey.

He returned to British Columbia, Canada — where he spent his junior hockey days —and coached U17 hockey while working construction.

“I tried to move on to something else,” Mosienko said. “And this just called me back.”

He decided to return as a professional in October. Hours before the first-ever Heartlanders game on Oct. 22, the club announced Mosienko was added to the active roster with his immigration approved. The forward recorded an assist that night as an alternate captain.

“It’s just a great opportunity,” Mosienko said. “I talked to the coaches and the staff, and they really made it seem like it’s going to be a really great season with the inaugural season, and I really just missed playing hockey.”

The Heartlanders organization, he said, is run like an AHL club. Mosienko last played in the ECHL with the Alaska Aces during their Kelly Cup championship season in the 2013-14, and the 5-foot-8 center is impressed with how the play has improved in the league.

With 821 games in professional hockey under his belt heading into the 2021-22 season, Heartlanders’ head coach Gerry Fleming said the franchise is using Mosienko as a player-coach.

“So, guys are going to lean on him for not only his play on the ice, but to support off the ice,” Fleming said.

Mosienko said Iowa is the perfect place for him to take on that role. He enjoys having the tight-knit group younger players around as he is looking into continuing coaching in the future. Though he has never played in the NHL, he passes on the wisdom he has accumulated to help the young players develop in their careers.

Defenseman Billy Constantinou is one of the skaters absorbing Mosienko’s knowledge. As a 20-year-old, Constantinou was 4 years old when Mosienko competed in his first professional hockey game.

After skating two games with Mosienko, Constantinou said he had already formed great chemistry with the 37-year-old veteran.

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“He’s super easygoing,” Constantinou said. “It’s easy if you got any questions or anything like that. He’s always willing to help you out and talk to you.”

Mosienko grew up in Manitoba, Canada, in the shadows of his grandfather, Bill Mosienko. The elder Mosienko was a right wing for the Chicago Blackhawks from 1941-55 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965. He set the record for the fastest hat trick in NHL history when he scored all three goals within 21 seconds in 1952.

“I did the best I could to try to follow in his footsteps,” Mosienko said. “At the end of the day, I didn’t make it to where I wanted to make it, being like an NHL veteran like he was, but I did OK.”