Mark Scheifele gets emotional when discussing terrible family tragedy.

The Winnipeg Jets had one of the most heartbreaking playoff exits, perhaps of all time, during the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. One of the Jets most pivotal players, Mark Scheifele, was struck by a terrible tragedy when he learned on the day of Game 6 that his father Brad Scheifele had lost his battle with cancer.

Scheifele and the Jets were facing elimination on that day and sadly things would not go their way, with Scheifele left sitting in the penalty box as his team's playoff hopes were crushed right in front of him.

The outpouring of emotion on the ice after the Jets were eliminated was palpable in the building at the time and even during the post game comments you could see that Scheifele's teammates were far more concerned with the human side of things than the game of hockey.

"You want to give him the strength," said Jets captain Adam Lowry with tears in his eyes. "You want to get that kill so bad, we just couldn't do it."

Scheifele has, understandably, spoken very little about the difficult moment but in a recent interview he opened up about just how heavy the moment was for him. All this time later, Scheifele admits he still gets choked up thinking about how even the opposing team went out of their way to show kindness in a terrible moment.

"It’s tough to hold back the emotions right now," admitted Scheifele as per Ken Wiebe."Some of the things that guys’ said were pretty heartwarming. To see the respect and — it just shows how great of a hockey community the NHL is and hockey players, in general.

"It made me feel very special and loved. That handshake line will be something that I remember for the rest of my life."

Given that Schiefele was going through such a torrent of emotions at the time it does leave you wondering how he even managed to lace up his skates and play in Game 6. When asked about this Scheifele's answer can be summarized with a single word, mom.

"My mom was pretty strong," said Scheifele. "Just talking to me about playing and what my dad would have wanted."