Michigan State hockey senior center Tiernan Shoudy has signed a professional contract with the Wheeling Nailers, the ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, for the rest of the 2025-26 season.
Shoudy is the eighth Spartan to sign a professional contract or amateur tryout agreement. Freshman forward Porter Martone, junior goaltender Trey Augustine, junior defenseman Maxim Štrbák, senior winger Daniel Russell, senior defenseman Matt Basgall, sophomore defenseman Colin Ralph and senior center Charlie Stramel have all signed tryouts or entry-level contracts following the Spartans' season.
Shoudy finished his senior season with 20 points (7 goals, 13 assists), surpassing his point totals in his previous three seasons.
He was one of three seniors to spend all four seasons at MSU under coach Adam Nightingale, who took over the program his freshman year but did not recruit him.
Shoudy was undrafted when he arrived at MSU, but helped the Spartans to three consecutive Big Ten regular season titles and back-to-back Big Ten Tournament titles.
He played all 150 games under Nightingale and became a player that was trusted in big moments, key faceoffs and penalty kills.
He scored the overtime winner against Penn State at home this season, and made countless plays that do not appear on a scoresheet. In his final game, he took 40 draws for the team when it was down its starting center.
“Being able to build that trust with them has been so huge for me, and I hope they feel the same way,” Shoudy said on his senior night “Whatever I can to help the team win is what I'm always trying to do. I hope (that’s) how I'm remembered, to just do whatever I can to help the team win. I think stuff like that is how I can help impact the game, maybe not always (by) scoring, but stuff like that.”
Nightingale said multiple times throughout the season that Shoudy could have easily transferred to play at another program, but was bought into the team. Shoudy was a central part of the Spartans' penalty-kill unit.
“He's just super appreciative of being here,” Nightingale said on Senior Night. “He could go anywhere he wanted, and play a lot more than he does on our team. And I respect that. He's bought into making us great.”
Competing for MSU was a dream come true for Shoudy who grew up a fan of the program. He was also able to spend his final collegiate season alongside twin brother and senior defenseman Travis Shoudy, who transferred to MSU for their senior year.
“Everything about Michigan State, not even just hockey, but the whole university in general is what we relate to and what we want to be as people,” Tiernan Shoudy said. “Once we realized that, it was obviously the dream, and yeah, it's been awesome.”
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