Hershey Bears‘ rookie center T.J. Syner(84) has done the 60 minute drive to and from affiliate Reading Royals for games so many times in the month of February his car probably knows the route automatically.
He’s at 7 and it’ll end there, because he’s joining the team for a Florida swing of games. There seems to be a method to the wacky races madness, because in 10 ECHL games he has 4 goals and 7 assists. They hope he can convert the same success to the higher league.
In 34 AHL games he has 3 goals and 4 assists.
At 5’9″ 179 lbs. the 24-year old is definitely on the small side but has the ability to get into those open areas and bury his chances, which is what he’ll need to do with frequency to stay on Washington Capitals‘ radar. He was in their development camp and has a player profile on their site but there’s no information about his contract anywhere.
At the rate he’s playing he could suit up for almost 100 games this season depending who he plays with in the postseason (maybe both) and how deep they go.
Original story 2/28-13
He finished his first season playing 36 AHL games and kept those 3 goals and 4 assists mark with a +1 rating but in the lower league he would only play an additional 6 to 16 ECHL games as his totals swelled to 9 goals and 10 assists, then en route to a 2013 Kelly Cup Championship he helped chipping in 9 tallies and 12 helpers in 22 games with a +22 rating.
He signed once again with Hershey for his sophomore campaign but spent most of the time down with Reading Royals skating a career high 56 games, scoring 19 goals, 25 assists and 44 points with a +12 plus/minus. But at only 64 shots on net, he clearly doesn’t shoot the puck nearly enough.
He had no points in 4 postseason contests before splitting for inter-league rival Utah Grizzlies in 2014/2015.
Sidelined by injuries he was limited to 45 games scoring 15 goals and 16 assists but then popped back to scoring life in the playoffs connecting for a pair of goals and 6 assists in 11 games through the Western Conference Finals.
He’s decided to stay put once again signing for 2015/2016 with the Grizzlies.
Crazy to think that he’ll be entering his 4th pro season and will turn 27-years old near the beginning of the new hockey calendar.
Also, can’t forget he started late after a pretty storied four year career at UMass-Amherst.