by Chris Faber | AHL On The Beat
The transition from living with a billet family to living alone can be difficult for an AHL rookie, but you know what makes everything better?
Cats.
Abbotsford Canucks defenseman Sawyer Mynio He spent four seasons away from home as a junior in the Western Hockey League, one of which saw him play three and a half seasons in Seattle and half a season in Calgary.
He feels like he is building a house. Mynio is back in British Columbia, with his girlfriend LiveHometown, and one of the couple’s first big life decisions as adults was to get a kitten they named Marvin.
But why have one cat when you can have two?
They decided to get a second cat because Mynio would come home from the rink or Liv from work, and little Marvin looked like he needed some company.
This is where Teddy comes into the equation.
“We hurt Marvin,” Mynio said. “She was alone, then we went out and picked up her younger sister, we live in the city, so it’s downstairs as it’s three floors. The cats are always running around all the stories of the house.
The cats are big fans of their father and enjoy watching all the action on TV when Mynio is on the road.
“Sometimes they watch TV during the games, but Liv said there are funny moments when they jump and watch TV,” he said.
“I have seen something Jason Robertson saying that all the goals he scores are from his cats. Obviously, he got more points than me, but yeah, I’d say my top three this season is Marvin and Teddy.”
With a new professional hockey schedule and figuring out how to be an adult, the cats help bring some downtime into Mynio’s life. Although the two can be a handful when Liv is cooking in the kitchen, the couple is grateful for the smiles they bring home.
The transition to a full-time AHL player has been a multi-year effort from Mynio and the Canucks organization. Over the past two seasons, the young defenseman has had the opportunity to skate as a “dark ace” with the Abbotsford Canucks.
“These two playoff runs were definitely a good start for me,” he said. “Meeting the boys, coaches and other staff was good for me. It was a good start to the season.”
Mynio competed in all of Abbotsford’s Calder Cup games last season and was the last player to touch the trophy before handing it over to the head coach. Manny Malhotra.
Being a rookie in the AHL has its ups and downs, but Mynio has been able to scratch and pave the way to becoming a player that the Abbotsford coaching staff trusts to drive their power play. He credits the assistant coach with early success on the power play Harry Mahesh.
“He runs the game for a living and he told me that last year I was going to score points with the strong performance of the Calder Cup team,” said Mynio. “Christian Wolanin he was a good guy to watch last season, and that gave me new ideas to run the unit.”
Stepping up on the power play was a new position for Mynio, who was often used as a one-time option on the right half wall during his junior days.
The AHL has a number of successful rookie defensemen in the league, and Mynio – a third-round pick by Vancouver in the 2023 NHL Draft – sits in the top 10 in points on a team that includes a first-round pick as Dmitri Simashev again Carter Yakemchuka former player of Mynio’s youth team.
“It’s exciting to see these young defenders going around the league and succeeding,” said Mynio. “I’m thinking of one of my friends, Tanner Molendyk and the Milwaukee Admirals, and it’s always fun to watch him again. He is a very good player.
“I think sometimes it’s rare for young defensemen to have success early in the AHL, but it’s good to see a lot of us succeed this season. And to be honest, it gives us more competition. We see how each other is doing and we do a little battle with it.”
The rookie season can be tough, but Mynio’s home life helps him cut back between practices and games. The 20-year-old is focused on landing in the NHL one day, locked into that goal like a cat following a laser pointer.
