WINNIPEG – As much as he wanted to be, Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey couldn’t be on the ice with his teammates embracing teammate Mark Scheifele at the end of Game 6.
Still, as a longtime friend of Scheifele, Morrissey – who had left the game with a knee injury – knew exactly where he needed to be.
When Scheifele came off the ice - the loss of his father Brad earlier this morning fresh in his mind as Winnipeg’s season came to an emotional end in Dallas - the first player he saw before getting in the room was Morrissey.
“I met him in the hallway and we shared a couple of moments. I know that going back to when my dad passed, for me I feel fortunate that I had some time after the season and I feel bad that Mark doesn't have that opportunity,” Morrissey said. “I just remember how hard that last game was, knowing that it was kind of the last one he'd be able to watch. I knew the emotion that was going to flood out of Mark when he came off the ice and what he was probably holding back the entire day and game.”
The 30-year-old defenceman knows all too well the pain that Scheifele was in.
Morrissey lost his father, Tom, in August of 2021 after a courageous battle with cancer. The two spent countless hours on the ice working on Morrissey’s skating, skills that the Norris Trophy contending defenceman still uses to this day.
Scheifele’s linemate, Kyle Connor, lost his father Joe that same summer.
“Mark did an outstanding job of just being so focussed on the game and putting everything aside. Who knows what was going through his mind until the game, but this is a big family here,” Connor said. “I’m sure throughout the course of the summer, we will have those conversations. They come. I have had those with Josh, and just leaning on each other. It’s just letting him know I’m always there for him.”
Their bond was similar to that of Scheifele and his father, with the game of hockey a big part of it. Through multiple guest trips in seasons gone by, Morrissey got to see that bond firsthand.
Scheifele was there when Morrissey needed him most. So in small ways, Morrissey returned the favour – checking in on Scheifele throughout that day, walking into American Airlines Center with him, and, ultimately, being there for him when all the emotion came to the forefront.
“Unfortunately we both have lived that experience and it's one that, it was one of the toughest experiences I've ever been through, personally,” Morrissey said. “Throughout the last year and time when Brad was sick, just trying to show Mark that support. And just I think importantly make sure he knows that his friends are there for him, his teammates are there for him, and if he wants to talk about it, you're there.”
At that moment, it didn’t matter that Morrissey knew that even if Winnipeg had managed to win Game 6 and force a Game 7, he wouldn’t be part of it. He knew the moment he got tangled up with Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen and fell to the ice that his postseason was likely over.
In a way, it was another head-shaking way to end such a promising season. Morrissey made Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team and played brilliantly, but couldn’t play in the final due to an illness that kept him in the team hotel.
Concussion protocol took him out of Game 7 against St. Louis after just 2:09 of ice time. Then came the injury in Dallas.
“It was just frustrating this year that those situations happened. You can feel sorry for yourself or unlucky or whatever you want, but it is what it is,” Morrissey said. “Just got to go back to work and continue to get better and prepare for next season and be ready for those moments when I get a chance to be in them again.”
Last spring, when the Jets were eliminated in five games by the Colorado Avalanche, Morrissey and the Jets resolved to return after a summer spent finding ways to be five to ten percent better.
Together, they earned a Presidents’ Trophy after a franchise record setting 116-point season, they ousted the St. Louis Blues in a seven-game thriller, then fell to Dallas in a tightly contested six-game series.
It’s progress, but Morrissey knows there is still work to do.
“I think the sentiment is that drive that we had after last season when it didn't go our way, when we felt we needed to make some serious changes, we need to have that same attitude this summer in terms of pushing ourselves, and maybe even harder than we did last year,” he said. “To get to that next level of obviously the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup we've got to continue to push to go to that next level.”
Going back a couple seasons, the word ‘family’ began being used more and more often to describe the Jets. The players felt it, the coaching staff and management felt it, and those watching the team on a nightly basis could see it.
It’s always in the toughest times that families are tested, and it’s clear that feeling of family reaches far outside the walls of the dressing room.
“Before the game my mom texted me and I think she shared it with Mary Lou (Scheifele), but 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,” said Morrissey.
“It was a lot of emotion, for sure. And I like I said heart goes out to the family. And miss Brad. One incredible person.”
