World Championships, Beach Days and Wedding Bells

Mojitos and an ice cream sandwich bar.

Those were two of Michael Bunting’s must-haves at his wedding, which took place last month just outside of downtown Toronto at a venue called the Symes.

“I’ve always liked (a mojito). It’s refreshing. Then I had an ice cream sandwich bar, because that’s something I absolutely love. So, that had to be there for dessert,” the Penguins forward said before sharing his ideal combination: “two chocolate chip cookies, vanilla ice cream, and then sprinkles all around it.”

It was a memorable evening for Michael and his wife Jordan, both Ontario natives who met when they were kids. “It’s funny, we actually grew up playing hockey together,” Michael said. “So, we’ve known each other since we were, I don’t know, eight years old.”

Jordan, who went on to play college hockey at McGill University, “taught me everything when we were growing up. That’s what she says,” Michael said with a grin.

They wanted to get married close to home so that they could have a lot of family and friends attend, ending up with about 180 guests. “It was a fairly bigger wedding,” said Michael, whose groomsmen consisted of his older brother, a former teammate, and buddies from high school.

“I felt like the first couple hours, all I was doing was talking and bouncing to each group. I feel bad that I didn’t get to say hi to everybody, but that’s just kind of what happens when it’s just such a busy day. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. Obviously, you know, my wife looked beautiful, and she had a lot of fun.”

Bunting brought the same energy to the dance floor that he does to the ice, hitting it around midnight and remaining there until the venue closed around 2 AM. “It was a two-hour power hour,” he laughed.

Bunting’s wedding capped off a busy offseason that began with a trip to Czechia for the World Championship in May. He represented Team Canada for the second time in his career, after capturing gold at the 2021 tournament in Riga, Latvia.

While Canada finished fourth after falling to Erik Karlsson and Marcus Pettersson’s Sweden in the bronze-medal game, it was still a great experience from an atmosphere perspective. Bunting’s last appearance came during the pandemic, with no fans present.

“We were playing Czechia, and they tied it up, and the whole crowd was, like, bouncing up and down,” he said. “It was definitely one of the loudest, or the loudest, arenas I’ve ever been. Like, I felt like the building was shaking. That was really, really cool. That was really cool to see, because I’ve always heard about it, and finally witnessing it and experiencing it, it was a lot of fun.”

Bunting spent about a month there, with the team staying about a 15-minute train ride from downtown Prague. “We’d actually go there pretty much every night for dinner and see the city,” he said. “So, that was really cool, too. Food was great there. I love Prague. Beautiful buildings and the architecture was unbelievable.”

From there, Michael and Jordan went to Italy the day after the bronze-medal game for vacation, mostly just relaxing by the beach in Positano. “I feel like obviously finishing a long season and then going right to World Championships and being there for about a month, all I really wanted to do was relax. So, I definitely enjoyed that part of that trip.”

If it was up to Jordan, they would have gone back to Europe for a honeymoon, but Michael wasn’t very keen on traveling that far again. Instead, they’ve settled back into day-to-day life at home in Ontario, where Michael gets to the gym early – around 7 AM – and then skates at 9 AM. He’ll come home, make breakfast, maybe take a nap, and then enjoy the rest of the day. On weekends, they head up to their cottage and unwind before getting back to their Monday through Friday schedule.

“I’m kind of at that point now of the summer that I’m over the summer, I’m ready to get back and get back to it and get the season going,” Bunting said with a laugh. “I think every hockey player kind of hits that point of, we’re done with summer workouts and summer skates, we’re ready to get to the real thing. So yeah, no, I’m itching to get back. I’m looking forward to getting back to Pittsburgh, playing in front of all the fans, and it’s gonna be an exciting year, for sure.”