Lyndon Byers

Lyndon Byers
Born (1964-02-29) February 29, 1964
Nipawin, SK, CAN
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Right
Played for Boston Bruins
San Jose Sharks
NHL Draft 39th overall, 1982
Boston Bruins
Playing career 1984–1995

Lyndon Svi Byers (born February 29, 1964) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. Byers played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for parts of ten seasons with the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks. He was known as a "enforcer" or "goon" and was among the toughest of his time on the ice. He is currently a radio personality on Boston rock station WAAF (FM).

Playing career

Born in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Byers spent a year with the Notre Dame Hounds before beginning his major junior career in 1981 with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL). The following year, the Boston Bruins selected him with a second-round pick (39th overall) at the 1982 NHL Entry Draft.[1] His gritty style earned him a spot with Team Canada at the 1984 World Junior Championships in Nyköping, Sweden. Byers showed promise by scoring 32 goals in each of the next two seasons with Regina, but it was his 153 and 154 penalty minutes in each of those seasons that would be a better measure of his future professional career.

Joining the Bruins at the end of the 1983–84 season, he scored two goals and four assists for six points while amassing 32 PIMs. Bouncing back and forth between the parent club and the minors, his best statistical season came in 1987–88, when he registered 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points while amassing 249 penalty minutes in 53 games.

Byers signed as a free-agent with the San Jose Sharks on November 7, 1992, where he finished his NHL career in 1992–93, before ending his professional playing career with the International Hockey League (IHL)'s Minnesota Moose in 1994–1995. He scored 28 goals and 43 assists for 71 points and amassed 1,081 PIMs in 279 NHL games over ten seasons.

Entertainment career

Shortly after his playing career, Byers returned to the Boston area and became a co-host of the Hill Man Morning Show on radio station WAAF-FM, where he is an air personality and sports specialist.[2]

Byers has made several appearances on the FX drama/comedy Rescue Me with well-known Bruins fan Denis Leary, as well as fellow former Bruins Cam Neely and Phil Esposito. He had a cameo appearance in the films Shallow Hal and Stuck On You as well. He was also featured on the Season One finale of Bar Rescue on Spike TV. Byers and Neely also appeared in the music video for the song Hole Hearted by Boston hard rock group Extreme.

It was announced on September 6, 2012 during a live broadcast of "The Hill-Man Morning Show" that Byers could not come to terms on a new contract with WAAF's parent corporation, Entercom, and he would no longer be co-host on the long running show. The contract issue was later resolved and Byers returned to WAAF.

DUI convictions

In January 1989, while out of the Bruins' lineup with a back injury, Byers was arrested by Boston Police and charged with speeding, failure to drive within marked lanes, and driving under the influence of alcohol.[3] Byers was arrested for another drunk driving offense in 1998, leading to a 60-day prison sentence which was served in 2003. Byers was suspended without pay from his radio job at WAAF following his conviction.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Lyndon Byers http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=711
  2. ↑ LB Bio http://features.waaf.com/hillman/lb_main.php
  3. ↑ BYERS CHARGED WITH DUI http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8106032.html
  4. ↑ Jail birds for a day: Hawks tour big penalty box http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/news/x1718487497#axzz28EvsW3Yk
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