No one would blame Tampa Bay Lightning forward Dana Tyrell if he gave up on hockey.
After all the Bolts 2007 second round pick has endured two debilitating knee surgeries in his hockey career. The first was in 2009 when Tyrell was injured playing on Team Canada’s top line in an under 20 World Junior exhibition game versus Sweden He was assigned to Norfolk the following season where he struggled until the last part of the campaign when he netted 27 points in 36 games.
After stunning the Lightning brass and making the NHL squad in 2010 he played 78 games and contributed six goals and nine assists. (Photo/Susan Ferlita)
The Alberta native battled injuries last seasons, playing in only 26 games for Tampa Bay.
The 5-foot-11, 192-pound forward has played in six games with the Bolts this season, scoring a goal and adding an assist with four penalty minutes, before being reassigned to the Syracuse Crunch.
Before Tyrell left for Syracuse., teammates Martin St. Louis and Nate Thompson delivered some advice that would inspire him:
St. Louis and Thompson told Tyrell to go down fighting:
Via the Tampa Bay Times:
“For me, it was more like don’t feel sorry for yourself,” St. Louis said. “Just keep fighting.”
“He’s still a young guy,” Thompson said. “He’s got a lot of hockey ahead of him and he’s going to have a great career. I told him to stay positive, go down there and make the best of it, and he did that.”
“It was a positive thing,” Tyrell said of his time in Syracuse. “I just went down there and got my game back. I got a lot of minutes and got my confidence back. I was able to handle the puck a lot. I had some nerves coming back, but it just felt good.”
And get his game back, he did, scoring five goals and dishing out eight assists in 15 games ay Syracuse.
Tyrell was rewarded as the Lightning brought him back up on Saturday after forward Adam Hall was lost on waivers to the Hurricanes. Against Carolina, Tyrell played on a line with recent call-ups Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson. This line was the best line for the Bolts as they beat the ‘Canes 4-1 promoting Coach Boucher to praise Tyrell:
Via the Tampa Bay Times:
“Dana was unbelievable last game,” Boucher said. “He brought speed, was first on puck, relentless.”
Dana Tyrell is proof that you can’t keep a good man down.
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