Mark Scheifele

Mark Scheifele (born March 15, 1993) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who currently plays and serves as an alternate captain for the Winnipeg Jets in the National Hockey League. He was selected in the first round, 7th overall, by the Jets in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and was the first draft pick in the history of Winnipeg Jets 2.0 after being relocated from Atlanta.

Amateur Career
Born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario Scheifele grew up playing minor hockey for the local Kitchener Jr. Rangers program of the Alliance Pavilion Hockey League. After posting 79 points in 49 games in the 2008-09 minor midget season with the program, Scheifele was drafted in the seventh round, 134th overall, in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection Draft by the Saginaw Spirit.

The Spirit assigned Scheifele to Jr.B with his hometown Kitchener Dutchmen of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) for the 2009-10 season. Scheifele lead the team in points, putting up 55 points in 51 games. The Spirit traded Scheifele's OHL rights, along with a second round draft pick in 2013 to the Barrie Colts in exchange for goaltender Mavric Parks on August 16th, 2010. Two weeks later Scheifele signed with the Colts for the 2010-11 season.

Scheifele began his OHL rookie season ranked at 19th on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary North American skater rankings. By January Scheifele was ranked 21st on TSN's mid-season 2011 NHL Draft rankings. After posting 75 points in 66 games with the Colts and a strong showing with Team Canada at the U18's with 8 points in 7 games Scheifele finished the season ranked 12th on Bob McKenzie's final NHL draft rankings. Scheifele was considered a big riser for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and many pundits remarked he could go higher than projected. The Winnipeg Jets took that chance, selecting Scheifele in the first round, 7th overall, making Scheifele the very first pick of the new incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets. Instead of wearing a Jets jersey, as is customary after being selected, Scheifele was given a black generic NHL jersey as the Jets had not yet released an official logo or jersey at that point having just recently relocated.

2011-12 Season
Scheifele started the 2011-12 pre-season sporting #45 with the Jets. Scheifele opened up the pre-season with a bang in his first game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, scoring two goals and adding two assists, while garnering the games 1st star for his efforts. Scheifele would continue flying high for the Jets during the pre-season scoring 4 goals/8 points in 5 games to lead the team in pre-season scoring earning himself a spot on the Jets opening night roster. After the pre-season Scheifele signed is ELC on October 3rd, 2011. Worth $900,000 annually, with a $700,000 signing bonus Following the signing Scheifele commented, "(My first purchase) will probably be something for my family, because they’ve done so much for me, they’ve always been there for me. Probably something for my brother and sister, and probably my parents too, that will be the first thing.”

On October 4th ,2011 Scheifele made the decision to switch to #55, and wore the number that day at team practice. Scheifele made his NHL debut on home ice in Winnipeg on October 9th, 2011 against the Montreal Canadiens. Things started slow for Scheifele as he had a major adjustment to the NHL as the honeymoon pre-season was over and Scheifele was held pointless through his first four games. Still Scheifele would become a part of Winnipeg Jets 2.0 history with their first ever win in the MTS Centre, a 2-1 victory at home vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 10th, 2011. Eventually he would score his first NHL goal and point on October 19th, 2011 at the Air Canada Centre against Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer on the power play at 7:53 of the 2nd period, Dustin Byfuglien and Brett MacLean would get the assists on the goal. Scheifele would play in two more regular season games with the Jets but would eventually be sent back down to juniors on October 23rd, 2011 to join the Barrie Colts for more seasoning.

Scheifele would tear up the OHL in his return posting 63 points in just 47 games, a 1.34 point per game pace. On November 28th, 2011 Scheifele was one of 43 players named to Team Canada's selection camp roster for the World Juniors. The camp ran from December 10th to 14th and at the conclusion of the camp Scheifele was named to Team Canada's roster for the 2012 World Juniors hosted in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta. Scheifele would go on to score 3 goals and 6 points in 6 games, ultimately helping the nation to earn a bronze medal in the tournament. Scheifele also helped the Colts make the post-season after battling through injuries but they would eventually bow out to the Ottawa 67's in a hard fought 7 game series in the 2nd round. Scheifele posted 5 goals and 12 points in 13 games. At the conclusion of his OHL playoff run Scheifele would join the St.John's IceCaps for their 2012 Calder cup Playoffs run posting an assist in 10 games as the IceCaps were eliminated by the Norfolk Admirals in the 3rd round.

Following his big season in Barrie, Scheifele was nominated for the Kitchener Sports local Athlete of the Year Award on November 13th, 2011.

2012-13 Season
Scheifele would open up the 2012-13 season early, participating in the 2012 Canada-Russia Challenge between August 9th-14th to commemorate the 1972 Summit Series as well as honor the memory of the lives lost in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash. In 4 games with team Canada Scheifele would record 4 assists.

On September 19, 2012 the Barrie Colts named Scheifele as an assistant captain. Another lockout was looming large over the NHL during the summer and once again the players were locked out to start the season. Scheifele started the season with the Barrie Colts. In December Scheifele once again was invited to participate in Team Canada's World Junior selection camp earning himself a spot on the roster. The Team would have a rough go of it in Ufa, Russia as they lost the bronze medal final to Team Russia to come in 4th place in the tournament. Scheifele would have 5 goals and 8 points through 5 games.

By January things were looking good for the NHL and on January 6th, 2013 the NHL and NHLPA reached a tentative deal to get the players back on the ice. Through a compressed camp and no exhibition games the Jets decided Scheifele had earned himself a shot at making the roster. Scheifele would slot in for the first 3 games of the season but could not get much going for himself and was a healthy scratch for another 4 games before getting himself back into the lineup where he again failed to record a point. On February 6th, 2013 Scheifele was sent back down to Barrie for more seasoning. Scheifele would average 11:31 of ice time and a faceoff win % of 71.4 in his 4 game stint. Meanwhile back in Barrie Scheifele would finish out the season strong with 39 goals and 79 points in 45 games for a 1.61 point-per game pace. Scheifele and the Colts would come into the 2013 OHL playoffs hot. The Colts walked over Kingston and Oshawa in a double sweep to open the first two rounds and after a hard fought 7 game series against Belleville the Colts would make an appearance in the OHL final against the London Knights. Unfortunately the Colts were decimated by injury including an injury to Scheifele in the 3rd period of game 6. Scheifele would miss game 7 and the London Knights would go on to win the 2013 OHL Championship. Scheifele had a monster post-season with the Colts though, leading the league in scoring and coming in second in goals with 15 goals and 41 points in 21 games.

Career Statistics
http://eliteprospects.com/rss_player_stats2.php?player=75379

Philanthropy
Scheifele is a Sport Ambassador for KidSport Winnipeg, a charity that aims to remove the financial barriers to playing sports, and runs an annual hockey camp for boys and girls on behalf of KidSport Winnipeg.