MONTREAL — McGill University alumnus
Ryan McKiernan has signed a one-year contract with the Löwen Frankfurt of Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), continuing a distinguished playing career highlighted by eight championship rings, including four European league titles and the University Cup national banner with McGill in 2011-12.
"I chose Frankfurt because it's an organization with great potential that wants to build something special," said McKiernan on the team's website. "The fantastic coaching staff and the beautiful city made it the right place for me and my family."
The six-foot, 198-pound defenceman, who turns 36 later this month, is originally from White Plains, N.Y. He holds a German-passport from his previous years playing in that country and has a career stat line there of 29 goals and 100 assists in 265 DEL games. In 11 pro seasons overses, he has posted a 66-196-262 record in 510 regular season contests. In the post-season, he has tallied 15 goals and 47 points in 80 games.
"By bringing (him) in, we enhance our defensive quality," said Lions sporting director
Jan Barta in a press release issued by the team. "He is a highly experienced player whose professional mentality will help us maintain a consistently high level of hockey. Offensively, he can carry the puck from the blue line to the net and is also a valuable option for our power play."
McKiernan played four years at McGill before graduating with a commerce degree in 2014. The highly-decorated rearguard was a standout accounting major, earning Academic All-Canadian status and meriting a berth on the Principal's Student-athlete Honour Roll. He also received the University's Richard Pound Trophy for leadership in athletics.
A two-time recipient of the Bobby Bell Trophy as McGill team MVP, McKiernan registered a 41-76-117 record and 194 penalty minutes in 160 games overall with McGill. He was named OUA and CIS defenceman of the year in 2011-12 and merited all-conference and All-Canadian honours. McKiernan also won the 2012 Guy Lafleur Trophy as the Quebec university player who best combines hockey with academics and citizenship.
After finishing his four years at McGill (2010–2014), McKiernan launched a lengthy European pro career beginning in Sweden with AIK (2014), then in Austria with Villach and the Vienna Capitals (where he scored the championship-winning goal in 2017). McKiernan made the jump to the DEL in 2018 with Düsseldorf EG, later winning the German championship with Eisbären Berlin in 2021 (earning playoff MVP honours), securing the Champions Hockey League title with Rögle BK in Sweden, and winning another DEL title with EHC Munich in 2023. He remained in Munich the following year before being lured away to play for Dusseldorf again last season.
Before joining the university ranks, he was a product of the United States Hockey League who went on to star in the QMJHL with both Drummondville and Acadie-Bathurst, before being recruited to McGill in 2010. He played for head coach
Guy Boucher in Drummondville and then for
Martin Raymond, Jim Webster and
Kelly Nobes at the university level – each of them McGill grads – before the first two bench bosses made the jump to the National Hockey League.
McKiernan is one of 17 McGill grads who have skated in Germany, a list that features current N.Y. Islanders general manager
Mathieu Darche (Duisburg, DEL), a former Montreal Canadiens forward who won two Stanley Cups as an assistant GM with Tampa. Also on that list is
Martin Raymond, who played pro in Schongau long before coaching in the NHL (Tampa and Ottawa), and also four-time Stanley Cup winning coach
Jamie Kompon who skated for Selb, a third division team in Germany.
McGillians who played pro hockey in Germany
| Last McGill Yr |
NAME |
POS. |
GERMAN LEAGUE TEAMS(S) |
| 1989 |
Mario DeBenedictis |
F |
Landsberg |
| 1989 |
Jamie Kompon |
D |
Selb |
| 1992 |
Martin Raymond |
F |
Schongau |
| 1993 |
Jordy Tedford |
F |
Eshweiller |
| 1996 |
Todd Marcellus |
F |
Brunico, Duisburg |
| 1999 |
Luc Fournier |
F |
Deggendorf |
| 1999 |
Dave Butler |
F |
Hugelsheim |
| 2000 |
Mathieu Darche |
F |
Duisburg |
| 2003 |
David Lizotte |
D |
Hugelsheim |
| 2003 |
David Burgess |
F |
Füssen, Dortmund |
| 2004 |
Bruno Lemire |
F |
Heilbronn |
| 2005 |
Jean-Michel Daoust |
F |
Straubing, Kassel |
| 2006 |
Doug Orr |
F |
Peiting, Füssen, Essen |
| 2014 |
Ryan McKiernan |
D |
Dusseldorf, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt |
| 2017 |
Mathieu Pompei |
D |
Ravensburg, Landshut |
| 2020 |
Christophe Lalonde |
F |
Herforder |
| 2024 |
Eric Uba |
F |
Mannheim |
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
