Bird re-signs with Solar Bears

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Solar Bears have announced the club has agreed to terms with forward Tyler Bird on a contract for the 2021-22 season. 

Bird, 24, appeared in 65 games with the Solar Bears during the 2020-21 campaign, in which he collected 29 points (15g-14a) and 44 penalty minutes, along with a +5 and 174 shots on goal, all career-high statistics. Bird also tied for the team lead with two shorthanded goals. He became the club’s first-ever two-time recipient of the Dan Snyder Memorial Award, presented each season to the Solar Bears player who best displays a commitment to hard work, perseverance and dedication. 

Bird enters the 2021-22 campaign for his third season with the Solar Bears, and fourth overall in pro hockey, with 144 games of ECHL experience under his belt with Orlando, Greenville, Wheeling and Reading, collecting 52 points (23g-29a) and 81 penalty minutes. He has also appeared in two American Hockey League contests with Syracuse, picking up two assists and two penalty minutes. 

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.