March 7, 2017
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Former Notre Dame forward T.J. Tynan (’14) is set to make his National Hockey League debut for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night in a home game against the New Jersey Devils.
Tynan’s former teammate Robbie Russo (’15) is also set to make his NHL debut on Tuesday night for the Detroit Red Wings.
Tynan and Russo will become the ninth and 10th former Notre Dame players to play in the NHL this season, joining Ian Cole (Pittsburgh), Erik Condra (Tampa Bay), Vince Hinostroza (Chicago), Stephen Johns (Dallas), Anders Lee (New York Islanders), Kyle Palmieri (New Jersey), Bryan Rust (Pittsburgh) and Riley Sheahan (Detroit). The 10 former players appearing in the NHL is a Notre Dame record, as the previous high was nine in 2011-12.
Tynan and Russo will become head coach Jeff Jackson’s 15th and 16th former players at Notre Dame to go on to play in the NHL. All told, they will become the 29th and 30th players in program history to reach the NHL.
In four seasons with the Irish, Tynan tied the program record with 164 games played and he served as an alternate captain as a senior. He scored 54 goals and added 107 assists for 161 career points. He scored 18 power-play goals, six short-handed tallies and had eight game winners. Tynan graduated tied for 12th on the all-time point list and tied for ninth on the all-time assist list, and was an integral part of Notre Dame’s run to the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four.
As a junior, he captured the final Bill Beagan Trophy as most valuable player of the CCHA Tournament and was named to the all-tournament team. He became just the third freshman in Notre Dame history to score 50 or more points when he racked up 54 points on 23 goals and 31 assists in 2010-11. He was named the CCHA and the Hockey Commissioners’ Association Division I Rookie of the Year.
Tynan graduated in May 2014 with a degree in marketing from Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He was drafted by Columbus in the third round (66th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
Tynan has spent the last three seasons with Columbus’ American Hockey League affiliates, including the Springfield Falcons, the Lake Erie Monsters and the Cleveland Monsters. This season with Cleveland, he has scored seven goals and added 23 assists for 30 points in 55 game. He leads the team in assists and points.
In 2014-15 with Springfield, he tallied a career-high 48 points (13-35-48) in 75 games. Last season with Lake Erie, he scored six goals and added 40 assists in 76 games. In the 2016 playoffs, he added 1-5-6 in 17 games to help lead the Monsters to the 2016 Calder Cup championship.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).