Jon Mirasty makes name for himself in ECHL

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At the age of 21, Jon Mirasty is riding high after a successful rookie year playing in the East Coast Hockey League.

As left wing for the Bakersfield Condors, Mirasty, who is from Flying Dust First Nation, led the league with 32 fighting majors and 358 penalty minutes. At 5'10" and 220 lb, Mirasty has taken on the role of enforcer, fighting guys that he says are stronger and more experienced, something he had to get used to when he made the move from the junior leagues.

"You get guys on the other team that are trying to rough up your smaller and better players. You're out there to patrol and make sure things like that don't happen," Mirasty said. "You can change the momentum of the game too. If we're down by two goals and I go out there and get into a good fight, your momentum switches to your team and usually it comes back to score a goal or two. It's also for the fans, I guess. They like that. It's one of the fan favourites there."

Mirasty was named rookie of the year and tough guy of the year for his performance on the ice. Not too shabby for someone who originally planned on becoming a veterinarian.

"That was what my goal was, I grew up on a farm so we owned horses and stuff. So it was kind of my future goal," he said.

Mirasty began playing hockey at the age of five. When he was 17, he signed on to play for the Kindersley Klippers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Eventually, Mirasty went on to play for the Prince Albert Raiders and the Tri-City Americans. When his girlfriend gave birth to their son Tristan last year, Mirasty temporarily hung up his skates and headed for school.

"I actually quit for the summer and was going to school at the U of S (University of Saskatchewan) in Saskatoon, Sask. And about eight games into the East Coast Hockey League season, Marty Raymond-he's now our head coach-was contacting me and I decided to go. It took me a couple of weeks to decide and then I decided I was going to go back to hockey," Mirasty said.

Although he is enjoying every minute of his job, hitting the road and playing 72 games per season doesn't give him much time with his 14-month-old son.

"That's one of the major downfalls, I've not been able to be with my son. But also I guess I'm out there trying to achieve goals ... for somebody for him to look up to. So it's also a positive thing too."

For Mirasty, his own father has been that somebody to look up to in his life.

"He's the one that's supported me growing up, to achieve, so he's kind of been the mentor for me. He's helped me a lot. When times were tough, he kind of pushed me to keep going," said Mirasty.

After the summer is over, Mirasty will start a second season with the Condors. And he plans to work on his skating to improve his game. With such a promising start to his professional career, Mirasty does harbour dreams of making it all the way to the National Hockey League. But if that doesn't work out, Mirasty isn't too worried.

"That's a goal for pretty much any hockey player," he said. "It's also just the experience that I'm having fun playing hockey and doing what I love. But oh yeah, that's a future goal. And if it doesn't happen, then there's always other options."