Mojitos and an ice cream sandwich bar.

These were two of Michael Bunting’s must-haves at his wedding last month, which took place just outside downtown Toronto at a venue called 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 “I want to be there for dessert,” said the Penguins forward before revealing his ideal combination: “Two chocolate chip cookies, vanilla ice cream and then sugar sprinkles all around.”

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

Jordan, who later played 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 as many family and friends as possible could attend, and ended up with about 180 guests. “It was a pretty big wedding,” said Michael, whose witnesses included his older brother, a former teammate and friends from high school.

“I felt like for the first few hours I did nothing but talk to each group and jump around. I’m sorry I didn’t get to say hello to everyone, but that’s what happens when you have such a busy day. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. My wife looked beautiful, of course, and she had a lot of fun.”

Bunting brought the same energy to the dance floor as he did to the ice. He arrived around midnight and stayed until the venue closed around 2 a.m. “It was a two-hour power hour,” he laughed.

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

Although Canada finished fourth after losing to Sweden and Erik Karlsson in the bronze medal game, it was still a great experience from an atmosphere perspective. Bunting’s last appearance took place during the pandemic, without fans in attendance.

“We played in the Czech Republic and they did it and the whole crowd was jumping up and down,” he said. “It was definitely one of the loudest or the loudest arenas I’ve ever been in. 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 to finally witness it and experience it was a lot of fun.”

Bunting spent about a month there, with the team staying about 15 minutes by train from downtown Prague. “We actually went there almost every night for dinner and looked around the city,” he said. “So that was really cool too. The food there was great. I love Prague. Beautiful buildings and the architecture was incredible.”

From there, Michael and Jordan headed to Italy for vacation the day after the bronze medal match, mostly relaxing on the beach in Positano. “I feel like I’m finishing up a long season and then going straight to the World Championships and being there for about a month. I really just wanted to relax. So I definitely enjoyed that part of the trip.”

If Jordan had had his way, they would have returned to Europe for their honeymoon, but Michael wasn’t too keen on traveling that far again. Instead, they’ve settled back into their daily lives at home in Ontario, where Michael goes to the gym early – around 7 a.m. – and then goes ice skating at 9 a.m. He comes home, makes breakfast, maybe takes a nap, and then enjoys the rest of the day. On weekends, they head to their cottage and relax before returning to their Monday-to-Friday routine.

“I’m at the point in the summer now where I’ve had the summer and I’m ready to get back into it and get the season going,” Bunting said with a laugh. “I think every hockey player gets to the point where we’re done with summer practices and summer skates and we’re ready to get into the real thing. So yeah, no, I can’t wait to get back into it. I’m excited to get back to Pittsburgh and play in front of all the fans and it’s going to be an exciting year for sure.”