Coming back to Steinbach for his second year, Ryan McDonald says he enjoyed summer, taking some time to enjoy the outdoors, keeping his competitiveness alive through lacrosse, and working to be a leader for the Pistons this upcoming year.
Summer highlights
When it comes to things that stood out for McDonald about the summer, but the star forward says he’s always working to be a better athlete. “Spent some time at the lake, it’s nice out there. My offseason training is pretty much just a different sport, I play lacrosse, so I do a lot of running around. I had a fun time, but I’m really excited to be back.”
Family re-connect
Being a junior A player out of the home province usually has guys kind of wrapped up most of the time, and McDonald says it was nice to slow things down and reconnect with family. “When I was here last year, I’d always talk about the times at the cabin, the time spent on the lake on the boat. It was great getting to live that, and spend some quality time with family again, that’s for sure.”
Year two
With McDonald coming back for his second year as a Piston, he admits to needing a bit of a break after the end of last season. “For sure, I took a couple of weeks to just kind of reset,” the Saskatchewan product said from near the locker room in the Southeast Event Centre. “Once I kind of got into summer mode, I missed it here. I was just waiting and counting down the days ’till I could come back.”
It didn’t take long for McDonald to already be ready for the next season. “Two weeks,” he says with a chuckle. “Two weeks after we got sent home, I was already thinking about coming back. Even while playing lacrosse, I was always working, always thinking about this year, and what we want to do.”
Learning from year one
After a solid rookie season, McDonald says a big change for him came from learning what he needs to do to compete at the MJHL level, and help get his team to where they all want to be. “I came into the league kind of clueless, like when it comes from game to game, and what all goes into it. After the season, I really took into account the strength, the physicality, and the speed that you need to really excel in this league. I took it all into account for the summer, and I tried to make the most of it.”
Keeping in contact
Never short of conversational topics is the polite way of saying McDonald is a talker, but that outgoing personality has made him one of the most popular Pistons, and he says proudly he stays in contact with teammates now and from the past. “Oh yeah, all the guys, I’m always texting them. I’m always checking up, and I don’t think I lost a connection with a single guy.”
That connection will serve him well as McDonald will be viewed as a leader for this upcoming year, and he says he learned a lot from Noah Szabo. “It meant a lot, especially living with Szabo, the captain. He showed me so much about how to excel, be a leader in a team like this, and I’m just looking to be the best player that I can be.”
Home sweet home
This season has the added benefit of not having to move, as McDonald and the Pistons have the Southeast Event Centre to call their home, something the soon to be 19-year-old is thrilled about. “It’s going to be awesome, it’s a whole different atmosphere getting to be in the city to start the year. We saw it last year, it was crazy. We appreciate the people so much, and we can’t wait to give them a show every night. We won’t let them down.”
Getting into the community
McDonald plans to keep busy when not playing hockey, and he knows exactly where he wants to spend his time. “I’ll be working at Pat Porter again,” he says with a big smile. “It’s such a great place, such great people. I’m looking forward to getting to know a whole bunch of people there. They love the team, they support us, and it’s great to have the people behind you when you’re playing, but also when you’re in the city. It’s a special place to be.”
Settling into routines
Another big part of being at their permanent home, is getting to get into the daily routines, something McDonald says isn’t happening now, but will soon. “We’ve got the kids camp right now, so things are a little scattered,” he says laughing. “There’s a lot, a lot of moving things around. But we’re getting closer to that time when we really focus up, we really get into what we need to do as a group, putting down roots, and building our daily routines. It’s exciting, for sure.”
Billets
It’s not just settling into the hockey routine, McDonald says getting back with his billets is also something he’s really looked forward to all summer. “I’ve built a really strong relationship with them. It’s special. I got a new billet brother this year, we played together before, so it’s awesome. I’m a lucky guy.
Getting onto the ice
“Oh, it’s so amazing,” McDonald says about the first few days of being on the ice with some of the guys. “It’s awesome. I forgot how much I missed these hard skates, it’s so awesome to get out there and battle with the guys.”
