The dust is still settling from a grueling six-game battle between the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars, but a show of respect from fans of the Texas-based team is proving there are bigger things in life than a hockey game. The hockey world rallied together Saturday following the sudden passing of Winnipeg Jets centre Mark Scheifele’s father – and the forward’s decision to play hours later in the team’s Game 6 matchup against the Dallas Stars. Ryan Grimes, a lifelong Stars fan living in Brockville, Ont., said Scheifele’s courage and resilience inspired him to show support for the grieving Jets forward. “My dad is my ultimate hero, and I don’t know where I’d be if he passed,” Grimes told CTV News Winnipeg. “I just thought, ‘What a warrior this guy is for suiting up and playing immediately after finding that out.’” Grimes decided to donate to KidSport Canada in support of the Scheifeles. Mark Scheifele has been an ambassador for the organization since 2015. “I look back at my memories of playing hockey growing up, and you know, the aspect of being on a team and what that did for me in my development and the fact that we were able to help some people, some deserving children, to be able to kind of have that is amazing.” Grimes then took to a subreddit devoted to the Dallas Stars and encouraged other fans of the team to chip in, too. He listed KidSport and the True North Youth Foundation as causes for Stars fans to help. “I was hoping to just show people care, right? And people understand that there is life outside of hockey,” Grimes said. Stars fans understood their assignment and started making donations in memory of Brad Scheifele. One supporter galvanized the initiative by suggesting people donate ‘$55 for 55’ – a nod to Scheifele’s number. “That really seems to be what kind of caught the steam of it all, too. So, hats off to them and hats off to that community,” Grimes said. The ‘$55 for 55′ initiative began appearing on social media platforms as puck drop for Game 6 drew closer, with fans from around the globe paying their respects to the Scheifele family. And the donations continued rolling in long after Stars defenseman Thomas Harley clinched the series for Dallas with a powerplay goal in overtime. As of Sunday afternoon, the True North Youth Foundation had received over 800 donations totaling more than $55,000 in Scheifele’s memory. “Everywhere from $55 to $5.50,” Dwayne Green, the foundation’s executive director, told CTV News. “The Dallas Stars donated $5,500 post-game, as did Skip the Dishes. Those are remarkable shows of support for Mark and his family.” Green said the True North Youth Foundation will use the donations to create a scholarship in Brad Scheifele’s memory. “The goal is to have something that’s more legacy than just a one-time thing,” Green explained. “We’re still working through those details, but we’ve already started to think about that and want to include Mark and his entire family in the process.” Green expressed his gratitude to the Stars fans who spurred the campaign and marveled at the hockey community for coming together in such an impactful way. “I would say that sport never ceases to amaze me, how it can unite people in times of heartbreak, right? Someone took the pain that Mark was going through, and they’ve decided to create something wonderful out of it,” Green said. Grimes said that’s exactly what he and other Stars fans strived to do. “It just kind of showed the Winnipeg fanbase and Mark Scheifele that people do care, and they are thinking of him.”
