Looking to shore up their scoring, the Iowa Heartlanders announced on Friday afternoon that they have signed Tyler Mosienko. The 15-year veteran will be available for Friday night’s opener.

The Long Journey to Iowa

Tyler Mosienko comes with an impressive pedigree. His grandfather, Bill Mosienko, was a Hall of Fame inductee in 1965. The elder Mosienko set an NHL record in 1952 for the fastest hat trick in NHL history, scoring three goals in the span of 21 seconds.

Tyler has yet to reach the NHL level, but has been a solid professional performer both in North America and overseas. He began his career in 2005-06 with the Greenville Grrrowl (ECHL), scoring 13 goals and adding 34 assists in 72 games. The next three seasons he played for the Las Vegas Wranglers, having his best season with the team in 2007-08 when he scored 22 goals and had 37 assists in 64 games. That season he helped the team move deep into the playoffs, scoring seven goals and adding 13 assists in 21 playoff games.

The 2007-08 also saw Mosienko move to the AHL level, playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for seven games. The forward scored two goals and had an assist. He would return to the AHL a season later, playing for the Manchester Monarchs where he appeared in nine games before being dealt to the Rockford IceHogs where he appeared in 15 more contests. In all, Mosienko appeared in 24 games in the AHL that season, scoring five goals and adding 10 assists.

In 2009-10, Mosienko went overseas, moving to the premier German league where he played for the Nuremberg Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers. The forward played just one season there before returning to America a year later. In 2010-11, Mosienko split time between the Wranglers and the San Antonio Rampage (AHL). He scored 15 goals and had 32 assists in 43 games for Las Vegas, but had just one goal and two points in 22 games for San Antonio.

After sitting out a year, Mosienko headed back overseas where he played in the Denmark professional league, scoring 18 goals and 44 points in 39 games for Esberg EfB IsHockey. He began the 2013-14 season there as well, appearing in 31 games where he recorded 43 points, but returned to the United States to play for the now defunct Alaska Aces (ECHL) where Mosienko scored three goals and 17 assists in 25 games.

For the next three seasons, Mosienko played in Great Britain, joining the Sheffield Steelers of the EIHL. In his first two seasons in the league, Mosienko dominated, scoring 21 goals in 49 games in 2014-15, then scoring 25 goals in 50 games in 2015-16. He averaged better than a point a game in each of those campaigns.

After just six games in the 2016-17 season, Mosienko left Sheffield to head back to Denmark to play for the Frederikshavn White Hawks. There he recorded 14 points in 32 games. A season later, he moved on to France to play with Epinal where he appeared in 36 games, recording 21 points.

In 2018-19, Mosienko moved on to Halle MEC 04 of the German Upper Hockey League (GerObL). The forward spent two seasons there, scoring 24 goals in 48 games in his first season, then adding five goals in 15 games in 2019-20. The Covid-19 pandemic ended the season of the team that year, and he did not play last season.

Bringing Experience and Scoring Touch

While not playing in America in eight years, Tyler Mosienko has proven himself to be a solid goal-scorer who will add a lot of veteran leadership and grit for this team. The Iowa Heartlanders are going to be a very young club, with no player over 26 years old. Mosienko definitely adds the kind of leadership that head coach Gerry Fleming is looking for. Expect him to be a second coach on the ice.

By Robert Pannier