When the Winnipeg Jets trudged off the American Airlines Center ice after Game 6, the scoreboard read 2-1 Stars in overtime, but the numbers meant almost nothing. Mark Scheifele—who had scored the Jets’ only goal and then taken the late tripping penalty that set up Dallas’ winner—skated off knowing the real loss had come hours earlier. His father, Brad, had died that morning. Hockey heartache suddenly felt small.
Josh Morrissey, sidelined since the second period with a knee injury, understood better than anyone what Scheifele was feeling. As the final horn sounded, he hobbled down the tunnel, ignoring the swelling in his leg, and waited. The moment Scheifele stepped off the ice, Morrissey wrapped him in a hug that lasted far longer than a routine end-of-series embrace.
“I knew the emotion that was going to flood out of Mark,” Morrissey said. “I remembered how hard that last game was when I lost my dad.”
Morrissey’s father, Tom, died of cancer in 2021, and the defenseman still calls that spring the most trying stretch of his career. Mark Scheifele’s father, Brad, was equally woven into his son’s hockey journey—ringing frozen rinks at dawn, charting faceoff percentages in scribbled notebooks. The two dads often chatted in the stands on fathers’ trips; the sons now share a bond deeper than any teammate handshake.
Scheifele somehow played Game 6 under that emotional weight, logging 18:51 and leading both teams with nine hits. His ability to compartmentalize didn’t surprise Kyle Connor, who centers the same line and knows the same pain.
“Mark did an outstanding job of being focused,” Connor said. “He put everything aside. That’s not easy to do.”
Connor lost his own father, Joe, in 2021. He and Morrissey both reached out the moment the team learned Brad had passed. Throughout the day they checked on Mark Scheifele, sat beside him during meetings, and made sure his pre-game routine felt familiar—even if nothing else did.
“Mark and I talked about it that our Dads and KC’s Dad would be up there having their drink of choice and watching the game.”
Josh Morrissey on Mark Scheifele’s Dad passing away. pic.twitter.com/hdnWe3CzFv
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 20, 2025
“The Jets really are more of a family than a franchise,” Morrissey said. He walked into the arena arm-in-arm with Mark Scheifele, texted him between periods, and insisted on being the first face he saw after the loss. “Unfortunately, we both have lived that experience,” he said. “All you can do is try and be there for your friend, like he was for me.”
Mark Scheifele’s toughest moment on and off the Ice
Morrissey’s own season was finished regardless of the Game 6 outcome, but missing a potential Game 7 didn’t rank on his priority list. What mattered was standing with Scheifele in the hallway, sharing tears and silence only they could fully grasp.
Before puck drop, Morrissey’s mother had sent him a text that widened the emotional lens. “She said our dads—and KC’s dad—would be up there having their drink of choice and watching,” he recalled. “It was a lot of emotion, for sure.” So when the game ended, the embrace carried three fathers’ legacies. Connor joined them a few minutes later. “It’s just letting him know I’m always there for him,” he said.
Yes, the Jets’ campaign had included a Presidents’ Trophy, a hard-fought six-game win over St. Louis, and Morrissey’s own string of setbacks—illness during the 4 Nations Face-Off, a concussion in the first round, and now a knee ligament sprain. But all that scoreboard-level drama faded against the human one playing out in the concrete corridor.
“It was frustrating,” Morrissey admitted of the injuries. “But you just have to go back to work and be ready for those moments again.” Moments like this one—when leadership means holding a friend upright, not holding the blue line. The 2025 Jets didn’t reach the Cup Final, yet in their final moments they offered a masterclass in what teams like to call “brotherhood.” They showed the hockey world that the most important assists happen away from cameras.
Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele’s story isn’t merely two players navigating grief; it’s a testimony to unseen locker-room bonds. It’s knowing when to speak, when to listen, and when simply to stand shoulder-to-shoulder so the weight doesn’t crush one set of skates.
Scheifele’s loss is still fresh. Healing will take far longer than an NHL off-season. But he will not skate that path alone. Guided by a friend who’s walked it already, he can lean on a support network eager to carry Brad Scheifele’s memory forward. On a night when the Jets’ season ended, their sense of family only grew stronger—and that legacy, unlike a playoff run, has no expiration date.
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