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and lightning-fast reflexes like they did 30 years ago .
Dylan learned his lessons well . He grew up in the Garden City area in the north of Winnipeg with father Ed , a corrections officer , mother Maria , the manager of a child-care centre and younger sister Jenna .
Those novice hockey years , trying to convince his father to let him play goal , were spent at the Maples Community Centre . From there , he played for the Bantam AAA Winnipeg Hawks and for the Midget AAA Winnipeg Thrashers . In between the Bantam and Midget seasons , Myskiw was selected in the sixth round of the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft by the Victoria Royals . The western-most team in all the CHL was Myskiw ’ s playing address last season . He played 17 games for the Royals , posting a 3-5- 2 record with a 3.26 goals against-average and . 886
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save percentage as the back-up to veteran Victoria netminder Griffen Outhouse . He was destined for that same role this season until a Sept . 8-trade took him from as far away from home as you can possibly get to the closest place possible to play home games .
“ Yeah , that was nice ,” he said . “ Obviously I ’ m close to home now and family and friends get to come out so , yeah , it ’ s a lot nicer to be close to home . It ’ s not that far a drive for them so they can come out and watch whenever .
“ I didn ’ t really think too much about it ,” continued Myskiw when asked if he had a tough time being so far away from home in Victoria . “ We were always busy playing hockey and that ’ s my main focus -- to go out there and play . You kind of block everything out and just focus on what you have to do so , no , the transition wasn ’ t
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too hard . But , obviously for my family , it ’ s a lot nicer that I ’ m close to home .”
The biggest difference between Victoria and Brandon for Myskiw was easy to identify -- the weather .
“ The winter was nice , not too much snow there ,” chuckled Myskiw . “ I was wearing a light sweater out in Victoria , then when I came back to Brandon , it was like I might as well leave all the shorts at home !
“ It was a very close team out there in Victoria ,” added Myskiw when it came to another reason why it was difficult for him to leave the Royals . “ It was sad to leave them , but I know I moved on to a good team here .”
Being traded to Brandon means Myskiw is one of 14 Manitoba-born players currently on the Wheat Kings ’ roster .
“ I know a lot of friends here already , a lot of Manitoba
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guys ,” he said . “ Coming here , I didn ’ t feel out of place . The guys took me in as one of them and it was nice getting to know a few people on the team before coming . I knew Caiden Dailey , Stelio Mattheos , Baron Thompson , Gunnar Wegleitner . It was nice to have a relationship with them already .”
That Manitoba Connection is something that Wheat Kings ’ owner and president – as well as former general manager and head coach -- Kelly McCrimmon has strived to achieve during the years that he ’ s been in charge of the Brandon franchise . The pride that comes from being from Manitoba and excelling against teams with players from mostly the other three Western provinces and the United States is something that Myskiw feels the Wheaties embrace .
“ I think it ’ s a big factor . We already have a bond together ,” he explained . “ Being the only Manitoba guy in Victoria , it was nice to come back here with a lot of familiar faces . Just that bond that we have already , that friendship , it really clicks together .”
Through mid-November , the Wheat Kings were , indeed , clicking , holding down fourth place and an Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot .
As always , thanks in large part to Manitoba guys like Dylan Myskiw . ❍
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72 | GAME ON | DECEMBER 2017 |