by Chris Faber | AHL On The Beat
The transition from dwelling with a billet household to dwelling by yourself generally is a powerful one for an AHL rookie, however are you aware what makes the whole lot higher?
Cats.
Abbotsford Canucks defenseman Sawyer Mynio spent 4 seasons away from residence throughout his junior profession within the Western Hockey League, one which noticed him play three and a half seasons in Seattle and a half season in Calgary.
He now feels as if he’s constructing a house. Mynio is again in British Columbia, in his girlfriend Liv’s hometown, and one of many first large life choices the couple made as adults was getting a kitten they named Marvin.
However why have one cat when you possibly can have two?
They determined to get a second cat as a result of Mynio would come residence from the rink or Liv would come residence from her job, and little Marvin regarded like he wanted some firm.
That’s the place Teddy got here into the equation.
“We sort of felt unhealthy for Marvin,” mentioned Mynio. “He was on their lonesome, so we went out and received him somewhat sister. We stay in a townhouse, so it’s very up and down, as it’s three tales. The cats are at all times simply sprinting round each story of the home.”
The cats are large followers of their dad and revel in watching all of the motion on the tv when Mynio is on the highway.
“Typically they’re simply trying on the TV in the course of the video games, however Liv has mentioned that there are humorous occasions when they’re leaping up on the TV too,” he mentioned.
“I’ve seen some stuff about Jason Robertson saying each objective he scores is for his cats. Clearly, he scores much more than me, however yeah, I’d say my three this season are for Marvin and Teddy.”
With a brand new hockey schedule as a professional and determining the right way to be an grownup, the cats assist deliver some leisure time into Mynio’s life. Although the duo might be fairly a handful when both Liv or he’s cooking within the kitchen, the couple is grateful for the grins they carry to the family.
The transition to being a full-time AHL participant has been a multi-year effort from Mynio and the Canucks group. In every of the earlier two seasons, the younger defenseman has pounced on the alternative to skate as a “black ace” with the Abbotsford Canucks.
“These two playoff runs have been positively an excellent jump-start for me,” he mentioned. “Assembly the blokes, the coaches, and the remainder of the employees was nice for me. It was an excellent head begin for this season.”
Mynio skilled Abbotsford’s total Calder Cup run final season and occurred to be the final participant to the touch the cup earlier than handing it off to go coach Manny Malhotra.
Being a rookie within the AHL has its ups and downs, however Mynio has been in a position to scratch and claw his means into being a participant that Abbotsford’s teaching employees trusts to run their energy play. He provides credit score for the early success on the ability play to assistant coach Harry Mahesh.
“He runs the ability play and talked about to me final 12 months to take notes on the Calder Cup staff’s energy play,” Mynio mentioned. “Christian Wolanin was an excellent man to look at final season, and that gave me some new concepts for working a unit.”
Shifting as much as the highest of the ability play was a brand new place for Mynio, who usually was used as a one-timer choice on the right-half-wall throughout his junior days.
The AHL has a litter of rookie defensemen who’re thriving within the league, and Mynio – a third-round selection by Vancouver within the 2023 NHL Draft – sits within the prime 10 for factors in a gaggle that options first-round picks reminiscent of Dmitri Simashev and Carter Yakemchuk, a former junior teammate of Mynio’s.
“Seeing these younger defensemen across the league have success is enjoyable to look at,” Mynio mentioned. “I consider certainly one of my buddies, Tanner Molendyk with the Milwaukee Admirals, and it’s at all times enjoyable watching him too. He’s such participant.
“I believe it’s typically uncommon for younger defensemen to have early success within the AHL, but it surely’s nice to see so many people succeed this season. And truthfully, it provides us extra competitors. We see how one another is all doing and make somewhat little bit of a battle out of it.”
A rookie season generally is a grind, however Mynio’s residence life helps him decompress between practices and video games. The 20-year-old is hyper-focused on touchdown on his toes within the NHL sooner or later, locked in on that objective like a cat following a laser pointer.
