Game On Magazine 2017 December 2017 | Page 70

PROFILE DY L A N MYSKIW LIKE SON BY LES LAZARUK Sports Director, Saskatoon Media Group Saskatoon Blades’ play-by-play Photos by Brandi Pollock, CKLQ and James Carey Lauder 7 0 | G AME O N | D EC EM BER 2017 LIKE FATHER BRANDON – More often than not, a father feels a sense of pride and is humbled when his son decides to emulate what dad does. That wasn’t the case, initially, for Ed Myskiw when it came to his son. “He didn’t want me to be a goalie at first,” explained Dylan Myskiw, a goaltender with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. “I started off as a player, but just seeing the goalie out there and the equipment and all that, I thought it was pretty cool. “There was this one year, my seven-year-old year or six-year- old year, that our goaltender quit on us. The equipment got passed around the room and I kept saying, ‘Dad, can I be goalie?! Can I be goalie?!... Oh, let’s leave it for other guys to go around the room.’ I kept convincing him until finally, sure enough, he said yeah and we went forward after that.” According to Dylan, father Ed was the driving force behind the 18-year-old getting involved in sports, especially hockey. “He was my coach in spring hockey, he was my goalie coach and he just taught me while I was growing up,” said Myskiw. “He’s the biggest influence I’ve had. He’s always wanted me to get better. He’s taught me a lot of stuff, just going out to the outdoor rink and shooting around on me. “He thought he’d fire a couple hard at me and try to scare me not to be a goalie,” he laughed at the memory. “But sure enough, he’s like, ‘oh man, he’s saving them all,’ so I kind of took off from there and he’s my biggest fan.” When it comes to a self- evaluation as a goaltender, Myskiw describes himself as athletic and “very technical.” He’s pleased that he’s 6-foot-1, noting that he could always get taller and realizing that today’s goalies rely more on size and positioning than quickness