Ryan Sittler (born January 28, 1974) is a former

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born

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, ...

professional

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

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played 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 is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer

Darryl Sittler Darryl Glen Sittler (born September 18, 1950) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League from 1970 until 1985 for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Detroit Red Wings. He was ...

and brother of former Team USA player

Meaghan Sittler Meaghan Sittler (born March 12, 1976) is a Canadian-born American former ice hockey player for the Colby College White Mules women's ice hockey program and the Brampton Thunder of the NWHL. She is Colby's all-time leading scorer with 199 goals an ...

. Sittler was born in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

, but grew up in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

Playing career

Sittler was drafted by 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 Wel ...

in the first round (7th overall) of the

1992 NHL Entry Draft The 1992 NHL Entry Draft was the 30th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 20 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. A total of 264 players were drafted. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Sergei Gonchar, who reti ...

. With the selection of Ryan he and his father became the first father and son selected in the top ten in the

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a ves ...

's history, Darryl having been selected 8th overall in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

By the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ryan played college hockey for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

and played on a line with

Brendan Morrison Brendan Morrison (born August 15, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Washington ...

during his sophomore season. He left Michigan after his sophomore season and turned pro. A series of major injuries prevented him from ever playing in the

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

and eventually cut his career short at age 25.

Personal life

As of 2012 he was the Director of Youth Hockey at Palm Beach Ice Works and currently lives in

Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous count ...

with his family Heather, Luke, Alec, and Bradyn.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1974 births Living people American men's ice hockey left wingers Baltimore Bandits players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian ice hockey left wingers Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010) players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey players from Buffalo, New York Ice hockey people from Ontario Johnstown Chiefs players Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey players Mobile Mysticks players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Raleigh IceCaps players St. John's Maple Leafs players South Carolina Stingrays players Sportspeople from London, Ontario {{Canada-icehockey-winger-1970s-stub