April 1, 2014
Notre Dame, Ind. – The second member of Notre Dame’s current senior class – center T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) – has signed his first professional contract, as Tynan inked a two-year, entry-level deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen made the announcement earlier this afternoon.
The 22-year old Tynan was a third-round selection of the Blue Jackets (66th overall), at the 2011 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He joins Bryan Rust (Sr., Novi, Mich.) who also signed on Tuesday with Pittsburgh. Tynan will join Columbus’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Falcons on Sunday.
For the third season of his four at Notre Dame, Tynan led the Irish in scoring, this year scoring eight goals with 30 assists for 38 points. He had three power-play goals, one short-handed goal and one game winner on the year while being +15.
Tynan served as an alternate captain on this year’s team that was 23-15-2 overall and advanced to the NCAA West Regionals where the Irish fell, 4-3 in overtime, to the St. Cloud State Huskies in St. Paul, Minn. Tynan assisted on a Rust goal in that game.
The 5-9, 165-pound center had quite a career at Notre Dame. He finished tied for 12th (Kirt Bjork `83) on the all-time points list with 161 points (54 goals, 107 assists), tied for ninth all-time in assists with 107 (Dave Poulin `82) and tied for first in games played with current teammate Stephen Johns (Sr., Wampum, Pa.) with 164. Tynan missed just one game in his entire career and that came while he was playing for the U.S. Junior National Team at the World Junior Championships in 2011-12.
As a junior, the speedy center was fourth on the team in scoring (10 goals, 18 assists) but helped Notre Dame to the final CCHA Mason Cup Championship. He was an all-tournament selection and won the Bill Beagan Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the championship.
A two-time all-CCHA selection (second team in 2010-11 and first team in 2011-12), he tied for the CCHA scoring title (nine goals, 20 assists for 29 points) in `11-’12 with Michigan State’s Torey Krug who is now with the Boston Bruins.
A two-time Notre Dame Monogram Club Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year (2011, 2012), Tynan burst on to the scene as a freshman in 2010-11, leading the nation’s freshmen in scoring with 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points in helping the Irish to the NCAA Frozen Four for the second time in the program’s history. He was selected as the Hockey Commissioner’s National Rookie of the Year.
Before attending Notre Dame, Tynan played one season with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United State’s Hockey League in 2009-10 where he had 17 goals and 55 assists for 72 points and was a member of the USHL all-rookie team. His 55 assists were tops in the league that season.
Springfield is currently in second place in the AHL’s Eastern Conference with a 43-20-1-5 record, good for 92 points and is just two points behind conference leader, Manchester, with eight games left on the regular-season schedule.