Dysin Mayo took the Memorial Cup in his hands Sunday afternoon in London, Ont., and ran his hands over the engravings of all the past winners.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet … especially when you look at all the history behind the cup and the reason why it was created [in 1919 to honour Canada’s dead from the First World War],” said the Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman, who hails from Victoria.
“It goes back a long way.”
And Mayo, a graduate of Juan de Fuca minor hockey system, will now forever be a part of the cup.
The Western Hockey League-champion Oil Kings defeated the Ontario-champion Guelph Storm 6-3 in the 2014 Memorial Cup final to claim the major-junior championship of North America.
It was a seat-of-the-hockey pants journey for Mayo and the Oil Kings, who rallied from behind several times in both the WHL final against the Portland Winterhawks and again in the Memorial Cup.
“It seems we were comfortable in those kinds of adverse situations because we were always able to battle back,” said Mayo, Central Scouting’s 82nd-ranked North American skater for the 2014 NHL draft.
“We thrived off that.”
Goaltender Tristan Jarry and the Oil Kings blue-line were the keys to victory.
“Tristan kept us in games at key times … while our defence was able to shut down the top offences in the CHL,” noted Mayo, who led all Oil Kings defencemen in scoring in the WHL playoffs with three goals and 12 assists in 21 games and had an assist in the five Memorial Cup games.
It was certainly an exhausting spring.
“We’re pretty tired … that triple overtime game in the cup semifinals [4-3 win against Quebec-champion Val-d’Or Foreurs] took it out of us,” admitted Mayo.
“But then the adrenalin rushes right back, especially when you’re heading to the Memorial Cup final. You don’t need much more motivation that that.”
Mayo returns to Victoria on Wednesday and certainly has a built-in excuse if he wants to kick back for awhile before beginning his off-season training.
“I’ll take a couple of days off before getting back at it [dryland and on-ice training in the Western Communities, while awaiting the NHL draft],” he said.
ICE CHIPS: Dave Lowry of the Victoria Royals, WHL 2013-14 WHL coach of the year, was one of three finalists for the Brian Kilrea CHL Coach of the Year Award — which went to Eric Veilleux of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL.
