Solar Bears add Bird

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Solar Bears have agreed to terms with forward Tyler Bird for the 2019-20 season.

The Solar Bears are the ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning and the American Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch.

Bird enters his second season of professional hockey after he split his rookie campaign last season with the Wheeling Nailers, Reading Royals and Greenville Swamp Rabbits. The 23-year-old netted totals of 12 points (3g-9a) and 19 penalty minutes in 45 games.

Prior to turning pro, the Andover, Massachusetts native played four seasons of collegiate hockey for Brown University, where he collected 35 points (22g-13a) 40 penalty minutes in 120 games for the Bears program. Bird only missed four games during his NCAA career, and was named an alternate captain for his senior season.

Bird was a fifth-round selection (137th overall) of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.