The ferry reservations were made and a small flotilla from the Island was ready to make its way to Rogers Arena today to watch Dysin Mayo of Victoria make his home-province debut in an NHL jersey.
That will have to wait due to the postponement of the game between Mayo’s Arizona Coyotes and the Vancouver Canucks.
“Lots of people were coming from the Island to watch me but you have no control over these things,” said Mayo.
“As a player, you just have to be ready for when the time comes.”
That time has come for him in a broader sense, with his first 24 NHL games played since being called up from the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL.
The six-foot-two blueliner out of the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association has a goal and six penalty minutes. His non-glaring minus-2 rating, in a role as a shut-down defender, is impressively notable considering the NHL last-place Coyotes are tied with Montreal in allowing the most goals in the league.
The 25-year-old Islander paid his dues from Rapid City, South Dakota, in the ECHL to Tucson in the AHL to now Phoenix in the big league.
“It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” said Mayo, who won a Memorial Cup in junior with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL.
“I was one of the first cuts in training camp and wasn’t sure what the future held. But then I got the call and just concentrated on that first game, and then the next. From there it took off. I am playing their system and they have put a lot of trust in me. It’s given me lots of confidence.”
But not over-confidence.
“It’s not completely sunk in and I don’t feel secure yet [that he has a regular spot] but I just go out one game at a time and take it from there,” said Mayo.
Mayo has been paired with the more offensive-minded blueliner Shayne Gostisbehere.
“Our styles complement each other well,” said Mayo.
“He’s been great to me and is always talking to me. That has been helpful because this is a step up and things happen a lot quicker in the NHL than [in the minor pros].”
As Mayo is finding out, they happen as quickly off the ice as they do on it in the pandemic era. “You just have to be ready for anything,” he said.
