Former Mount Royal Cougars men's hockey player Riley Sawchuk never expected university hockey to become the path that launched an international professional career. After arriving at MRU during the confusing time that was the COVID-19 pandemic, Sawchuk developed an impressive on ice resume as a Cougar, earning First Team All-Canadian honours and Canada West All-Star selections before continuing his career in the AHL, ECHL, Finland and the KHL. In the story below, Sawchuk reflects on the journey from junior hockey to professional hockey overseas, told largely through his own words and experiences.

#13 Riley Sawchuk

If you would’ve told me a few years ago that after my time with the MRU Cougars, I’d be playing hockey in Russia, riding on team jets across the country, using Google Translate to talk to my coach and somehow making the KHL All-Star Game, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.

Honestly, coming out of the WHL, I didn’t even think I’d end up playing university hockey.

At that point, my mind was set on trying on earning a professional contract and the thought of university never really crossed my mind. I was undrafted coming out of junior, but I still believed something would work out. Then COVID hit, hockey shut down, and suddenly everything kind of stopped at once.

That was probably the first big moment in my career where I realized hockey paths don’t always go the way you draw them up in your head.

I remember getting calls from a few schools, but MRU felt like it could be a real possibility because my buddy Nolan Yaremko, was already there. He reached out and said Bert Gilling was interested in bringing me in. At the time, I honestly didn’t know much about what U SPORTS hockey could do for a player trying to continue their career.

Now I look back and realize it helped me more than I initially thought.

My first year with the Cougars was weird because we didn’t even get a season due to COVID. It was just practices, online classes and trying to stay ready without really knowing what was coming next. But in a strange way, that period helped me settle into school and figure things out a little bit.

I’d already been away from home in junior hockey living with billet families, but university was different. You’re on your own more. You grow up fast.

Coming to school, living on your own and maturing into a man — that was probably the biggest thing MRU did for me outside of hockey.

And honestly, I wasn’t some perfect student-athlete.

I was doing a business degree that turned into accounting, but to be completely honest, I wasn’t a huge school guy. I tried to do my work and do the best I could, but I definitely identified more as a hockey player at the time.

Still, being a student-athlete teaches you things whether you realize it or not. Morning workouts, classes all day, practice after, trying to recover, trying to focus — it forces you to become accountable. You learn time management really quickly because if you don’t, things can spiral on you fast.

At the same time, the hockey itself was a huge adjustment too.

People don’t always realize how good U SPORTS hockey is until they play it. In junior, there are elite players, obviously, but everyone is younger. At MRU, I was suddenly competing against players who were bigger, stronger and faster.

That prepared me for pro hockey more than I realized at the time.

The other big factor in my journey to MRU and beyond was Coach Bert. He was a mentor for me. 

One thing I really appreciated about him was that he trusted me. He gave me room to grow my game while still being there to guide me through things. We had a lot of conversations about my future, especially once pro-opportunities started coming up.

After what technically would’ve been my second year there, but really my first full playing season because of COVID, there were a few AHL opportunities that came up. Part of me wanted to jump right away because the sound of leaping to pro hockey right away sounded enticing.

But Bert and I had a lot of long talks about what would actually be best for me long term.

In the end, I stayed another year at MRU.

Looking back now, it was probably one of the best decisions I made.

I kept building my game, kept developing physically and mentally, and by the time I left for some end of season opportunities in the AHL, I felt much more ready for pro hockey.

When I got to Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL, it was definitely a huge step up. Everything is quicker. Everybody is good. You’re fighting for every opportunity.

But I also remember thinking: I can handle this.

MRU had prepared me for it.

After that came the East Coast League, which honestly helped me a ton too. Sometimes taking a step back gives you room to take another step forward. In Toledo I got more ice time, more freedom offensively, and I think the progression in my game showed that. 

Then came another fork in the road. 

Do I stay in North America chasing the grind, or do I take an opportunity overseas? I was left with a choice between continuing my path in the ECHL or taking on an opportunity to play overseas in Finland with KooKoo Kouvola who plays in SM-liiga. 

At that point in my career, Finland just felt right. Hockey-wise, it was a good opportunity. Financially, it also felt like the right time to start making some money.

Me and my wife ended up loving it there.

The hockey adjustment was interesting because of the speed and bigger ice surface, but even that felt sort of familiar because MRU plays on Olympic ice too. 

Then after Finland, my agents called and told me there was KHL interest.

I really didn’t know what to expect.

I think a lot of people back home have one image in their head of Russia because of everything going on politically, but being there was way different than what I imagined. Some things about it's reputation are definitely true but there are also portions of the country that have beautiful cities, great people and a deep appreciation for the game of hockey.

Moscow is honestly one of the nicest cities I’ve ever seen.

And Sochi — where the 2014 Olympics were — they call it “the Miami of Russia.” It's warm all year round there and on road trips, we’d stay at this all-inclusive resort by the ocean. That definitely wasn’t something I expected when I thought of Russia and creates an opportunity to enjoy a break from playing while you're there.

The biggest adjustment for me while playing there was probably the language barrier.

In Finland, almost everybody spoke English. In Russia, especially with the team I was on (Tolyatti Lada), there was almost no English spoken. 

A lot of the time you’re using Google Translate, relying on teammates to help you out or just trying to pick things up from coaches by reading their emotions and body language while they're explaining something to you on the whiteboard. When conversation topics are hockey related you just kind of figure things out as they go.

And hockey-wise, the KHL was probably the highest level I’ve ever played.

The speed, skill and structure of the game over there is unbelievable. Even though our team struggled in the standings, I felt like I still had a pretty productive season. 

Making the all-star game was surreal too. Honestly, I still don’t even know how it happened.

Now I’m kind of in that waiting period again, trying to figure out what the next step is. Hopefully I’ll head back to Russia next season, whether it’s with the same organization or somewhere else.

But when I look back at the whole journey so far, the thing I keep thinking about is how many times my path changed unexpectedly.

COVID changed it.

MRU changed it.

Staying in school longer changed it.

Going overseas changed it.

None of it really happened the way I originally planned, but every step added something important.

That’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned through all of it.

Sometimes the path you didn’t expect ends up becoming the one that gets you where you’re supposed to go.