Ryan Thomas Fitzgerald (born October 19, 1994) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

forward who is currently playing with the

Lehigh Valley Phantoms The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are a professional ice hockey team based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The team competes in the American Hockey League (AHL) and serves as the primary development team for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey L ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL). He was selected by the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

with the last pick in the 4th round (120th overall) of the

2013 NHL Entry Draft The 2013 NHL Entry Draft was the 51st NHL Entry Draft. All seven rounds of the draft took place on June 30, 2013, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The top three selections were Nathan MacKinnon going to the Colorado Avalanche, Al ...

Early life

Fitzgerald was born in Boca Raton, Florida, when his father Tom was a member of the Florida Panthers. As a result of his father's career, he grew up in Florida and Tennessee, before his family settled in

North Reading, Massachusetts North Reading (pronounced, as is with Reading as () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,554 at the 2020 census. History The area was first settled in 1651 when the town of Reading received a special ...

Playing career

Amateur

Fitzgerald played for

Malden Catholic High School Malden Catholic High School is a private, Catholic secondary school located in Malden, Massachusetts. The school was founded by the Congregation of the Brothers of St. Francis Xavier, an international congregation of religious brothers. It is ...

of MIAA Catholic Conference and the

Valley Jr. Warriors The Valley Jr. Warriors are an American Tier III junior ice hockey organization playing in Haverhill, Massachusetts. They have two Tier III teams that play in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) and the EHL Premier. The organization also fields a num ...

of the

Eastern Junior Hockey League The Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL) was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior A ice hockey league. Founded in 1993 by Dan Esdale, the EJHL had fourteen teams from across the Northeastern United States. The EJHL champion then competed for th ...

before committing to play for

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

in the

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

conference of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. He was the 2012 MVP of the CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game.

Collegiate

Fitzgerald joined the Eagles in the 2013-14 season and made an impact immediately as a rookie, being named the conference's rookie of the month for November, in just his second month of collegiate play. Playing alongside

Hobey Baker Hobart Amory Hare "Hobey" Baker (January 15, 1892 – December 21, 1918) was an American amateur athlete of the early twentieth century. Considered the first American star in ice hockey by the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was also an accomplished Am ...

winner

Johnny Gaudreau John Michael Gaudreau (born August 13, 1993) is an American professional ice hockey winger who currently plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League ( NHL). He played for the NCAA Division I's Boston College Eagles fr ...

, Fitzgerald finished the season fifth on the team in scoring with 29 points as the Eagles made a deep NCAA tournament run, coming up just short of the title game after falling to eventual champions

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in the

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

. Fitzgerald's sophomore campaign was consistent, as he led the team in goals scored (17) and finished fourth on the team scoring (25), despite an early exit from postseason play. Fitzgerald's junior year was a breakout year as he led the team in both goals scored (24) and overall scoring (47), helping the team to another deep NCAA tournament run. However, the Eagles would fall short of the championship yet again, after being defeated by the

Quinnipiac Bobcats The Quinnipiac Bobcats are the 21 sports teams representing Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut in intercollegiate athletics. The Bobcats compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, joining on ...

in the Frozen Four. For his efforts during the season, Fitzgerald was named a Hockey East 1st-Team All-Star as well as an NCAA 2nd-Team All-American. For his senior year, Fitzgerald was named an assistant captain of the Eagles, but dipped in his point production as the Eagles had an off year in terms of postseason success. Fitzgerald scored 12 goals and 31 points on the year as the Eagles reached the Hockey East tournament Championship, but fell to the UMass Lowell River Hawks and failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Fitzgerald ended his NCAA career with 66 goals and 132 points.

Professional

With the completion of his collegiate career, Fitzgerald was signed to a two-year entry-level contract with the

on March 24, 2017. He immediately joined AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, on an amateur try-out basis to play out the remaining 2016–17 season. After parts of four seasons within the Bruins organization, playing exclusively with AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, Fitzgerald left as a free agent. Unable to garner NHL interest, Fitzgerald agreed to a one-year AHL contract with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, affiliate to the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

, for the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season on January 18, 2021. In the shortened AHL season with the Phantoms, Fitzgerald increased his scoring output, registering 12 goals and 21 points through only 27 regular season games. As a free agent, Fitzgerald opted to continue within the Flyers organization, securing a one-year, two-way NHL contract with Philadelphia on July 28, 2021. On August 16, 2022, Fitzgerald continued his tenure with the Phantoms, signing a one-year AHL contract as a free agent.

Personal life

Fitzgerald's father is Tom Fitzgerald, a former player in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and the current

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the New Jersey Devils. His younger brother, Casey, is a

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

prospect and played with Ryan when they both attended Boston College. He is also cousins with former Eagles and NHL player Kevin Hayes, along with his late brother

Jimmy Hayes James Allison Hayes (born December 21, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer. He is a Republican from Louisiana. Background Born in Lafayette, Hayes graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then the University of Southw ...

as well as NHL players

Brady Brady may refer to: People * Brady (surname) * Brady (given name) * Brady (nickname) * Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998) Places in the United States * Brady, Montana, a census-designated plac ...

, Matthew and

Keith Tkachuk Keith Matthew Tkachuk (; born March 28, 1972) is an American former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) in a 18-year career with the Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues and Atlanta Thrashers, ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Ryan 1994 births Living people American men's ice hockey forwards Boston Bruins draft picks Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey players Ice hockey players from Massachusetts Lehigh Valley Phantoms players Providence Bruins players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans