Nathan MacKinnon
Encyclopedia
Nathan MacKinnon is a Canadian major junior ice hockey
forward
who currently plays for the Halifax Mooseheads
of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
(QMJHL). MacKinnon has excelled in ice hockey throughout his career, drawing comparisons to National Hockey League
player and fellow Nova Scotian, Sidney Crosby
.
, Nova Scotia
. As an atom aged player, MacKinnon recorded 200 points in 50 games. When MacKinnon was twelve and thirteen, he played Bantam AAA for the Cole Harbour Red Wings, recording seasons of 110 and 145 points respectively. After these two seasons, MacKinnon enrolled at Shattuck-Saint Mary's
in Faribault
, Minnesota
. He chose to leave his hometown and attend the Minnesota boarding school
because of the strength of its ice hockey program. In his first season at Shattuck-Saint Mary's playing with the Bantam Tier I program, he scored 101 points in 58 games played to finish second in team scoring. For the 2010–11 season, MacKinnon joined the under-16 program at the school. Despite being the team's second youngest player, MacKinnon was averaging more than two points a game and was second in team scoring at the midway point of the season. During the season, MacKinnon was named to the team that represented Nova Scotia
in the ice hockey tournament at the 2011 Canada Games. MacKinnon finished his second season at Shattuck-Saint Mary's with 93 points in forty games played, and was second on the team with 45 goals scored.
(QMJHL) Draft, MacKinnon was widely regarded as the favourite to be selected first overall and was ranked by QMJHL Central Scouting as the best available player. Despite this, MacKinnon spent the day of the draft skating with the Omaha Lancers
of the United States Hockey League
(USHL), as he was considering playing either college ice hockey in the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) or major junior ice hockey in the QMJHL. On June 4, 2011, MacKinnon was selected first overall by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar
in the 2011 QMJHL Draft. Because MacKinnon does not speak French
, there was speculation that MacKinnon would follow through with his option to play in the USHL until he was eligible for the NCAA, unless his rights were traded to a different QMJHL team. On July 13, 2011, MacKinnon's rights were traded to the Halifax Mooseheads
for Carl Gélinas, Francis Turbide, the Mooseheads' first round draft picks in 2012 and 2013, and the Quebec Remparts
' first round draft pick in 2013, previously acquired by Halifax. The Mooseheads had been attempting to acquire MacKinnon since Baie-Comeau was awarded the first overall pick in the 2011 QMJHL Draft.
came when he was named to the Canada Atlantic team for the 2011 World U-17 Hockey Challenge
in Winnipeg
, Manitoba
. Despite being the second youngest player at the tournament, MacKinnon scored five goals and eight points in only five games to finish seventh in tournament scoring. This included a game in which he scored two goals and two assists to be named player of the game as Canada Atlantic defeated Finland
4–3. His impressive play helped Canada Atlantic to its best finish since the 2005 World U-17 Hockey Challenge
, defeating Canada West 2–1 in the fifth place game.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
forward
Forward (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, a forward is a player position on the ice whose primary responsibility is to score goals. Generally, the forwards try to stay in three different lanes, also known as thirds, of the ice going from goal to goal. It is not mandatory however, to stay in a lane. Staying in a lane aids in...
who currently plays for the Halifax Mooseheads
Halifax Mooseheads
The Halifax Mooseheads are a CHL ice hockey club in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The team was founded in 1994 and began play in the Dilio division of the QMJHL for the 1994-1995 season. While the franchise has never won a league championship, they have...
of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League...
(QMJHL). MacKinnon has excelled in ice hockey throughout his career, drawing comparisons to National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
player and fellow Nova Scotian, Sidney Crosby
Sidney Crosby
Sidney Patrick Crosby ONS is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League . Crosby was drafted first overall by the Penguins out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League...
.
Early career
MacKinnon grew up playing in the minor ice hockey system of Cole HarbourCole Harbour, Nova Scotia
Cole Harbour is a Canadian suburban community in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. It is the hometown of Sidney Crosby.-Geography:...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. As an atom aged player, MacKinnon recorded 200 points in 50 games. When MacKinnon was twelve and thirteen, he played Bantam AAA for the Cole Harbour Red Wings, recording seasons of 110 and 145 points respectively. After these two seasons, MacKinnon enrolled at Shattuck-Saint Mary's
Shattuck-Saint Mary's
Shattuck-St Mary's School is a coeducational Episcopal Church-affiliated boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota, and is known for its Centers of Excellence hockey, soccer, music and figure skating programs.-National recognition:...
in Faribault
Faribault, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,818 people, 7,472 households, and 4,946 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,644.8 people per square mile . There were 7,668 housing units at an average density of 605.8 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. He chose to leave his hometown and attend the Minnesota boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
because of the strength of its ice hockey program. In his first season at Shattuck-Saint Mary's playing with the Bantam Tier I program, he scored 101 points in 58 games played to finish second in team scoring. For the 2010–11 season, MacKinnon joined the under-16 program at the school. Despite being the team's second youngest player, MacKinnon was averaging more than two points a game and was second in team scoring at the midway point of the season. During the season, MacKinnon was named to the team that represented Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
in the ice hockey tournament at the 2011 Canada Games. MacKinnon finished his second season at Shattuck-Saint Mary's with 93 points in forty games played, and was second on the team with 45 goals scored.
Junior career
Heading into the 2011 Quebec Major Junior Hockey LeagueQuebec Major Junior Hockey League
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League...
(QMJHL) Draft, MacKinnon was widely regarded as the favourite to be selected first overall and was ranked by QMJHL Central Scouting as the best available player. Despite this, MacKinnon spent the day of the draft skating with the Omaha Lancers
Omaha Lancers
The Omaha Lancers are a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team playing in the West Division of the United States Hockey League .From 2002-2009, the Lancers' home ice was the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha. Until the 2001-2002 season, the Lancers played at...
of the United States Hockey League
United States Hockey League
The United States Hockey League is the top junior ice hockey league in the United States. The USHL has 16 member teams located in the Midwestern United States, consisting of players who are 20 years of age and younger...
(USHL), as he was considering playing either college ice hockey in the National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) or major junior ice hockey in the QMJHL. On June 4, 2011, MacKinnon was selected first overall by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar
Baie-Comeau Drakkar
The Baie-Comeau Drakkar are a junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They play at Centre Henry-Leonard in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada. Their franchise was granted for the 1997–98 season.-History:...
in the 2011 QMJHL Draft. Because MacKinnon does not speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, there was speculation that MacKinnon would follow through with his option to play in the USHL until he was eligible for the NCAA, unless his rights were traded to a different QMJHL team. On July 13, 2011, MacKinnon's rights were traded to the Halifax Mooseheads
Halifax Mooseheads
The Halifax Mooseheads are a CHL ice hockey club in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The team was founded in 1994 and began play in the Dilio division of the QMJHL for the 1994-1995 season. While the franchise has never won a league championship, they have...
for Carl Gélinas, Francis Turbide, the Mooseheads' first round draft picks in 2012 and 2013, and the Quebec Remparts
Québec Remparts
There have been two junior ice hockey franchises known as the Quebec Remparts that played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The first franchise played from 1969 to 1985; the current franchise has played since 1997. Both franchises were based out of Quebec City, Quebec...
' first round draft pick in 2013, previously acquired by Halifax. The Mooseheads had been attempting to acquire MacKinnon since Baie-Comeau was awarded the first overall pick in the 2011 QMJHL Draft.
International play
MacKinnon's first experience with Hockey CanadaHockey Canada
Hockey Canada, formally known as the Canadian Hockey Association, is the national governing body of ice hockey in Canada and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Hockey Canada controls a vast majority of ice hockey in Canada, with a few exceptions...
came when he was named to the Canada Atlantic team for the 2011 World U-17 Hockey Challenge
2011 World U-17 Hockey Challenge
The 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge was an ice hockey tournament held in Winnipeg and Portage La Prairie Manitoba, Canada between December 29, 2010 and January 4, 2011. The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is held by Hockey Canada annually to showcase young hockey talent from across Canada...
in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
. Despite being the second youngest player at the tournament, MacKinnon scored five goals and eight points in only five games to finish seventh in tournament scoring. This included a game in which he scored two goals and two assists to be named player of the game as Canada Atlantic defeated Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
4–3. His impressive play helped Canada Atlantic to its best finish since the 2005 World U-17 Hockey Challenge
2005 World U-17 Hockey Challenge
The 2005 World U-17 Hockey Challenge was an ice hockey tournament held in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada between December 29, 2004 and January 4, 2005. The venues used for the tournament were the ENMAX Centre and the Nicholas Sheran Arena...
, defeating Canada West 2–1 in the fifth place game.
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | League | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... |
A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... |
Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... |
PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2007–08 | Cole Harbour Red Wings | Bantam AAA | 50 | — | — | 110 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | Cole Harbour Red Wings | Bantam AAA | 35 | — | — | 145 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Shattuck-Saint Mary's Shattuck-Saint Mary's Shattuck-St Mary's School is a coeducational Episcopal Church-affiliated boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota, and is known for its Centers of Excellence hockey, soccer, music and figure skating programs.-National recognition:... Bantam Tier 1 |
USHS | 58 | 54 | 47 | 101 | 56 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Shattuck-Saint Mary's U16 | USHS | 40 | 45 | 48 | 93 | 72 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
International statistics
| Year | Team | Event | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 2011 World U-17 Hockey Challenge The 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge was an ice hockey tournament held in Winnipeg and Portage La Prairie Manitoba, Canada between December 29, 2010 and January 4, 2011. The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is held by Hockey Canada annually to showcase young hockey talent from across Canada... |
Canada Atlantic | U17 World U-17 Hockey Challenge The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, originally known as the Quebec Esso Cup, is an international ice hockey tournament held annually in Canada. The tournament does not operate during years in which the Canada Winter Games are held. As such, the World Under-17 Challenge is held three out of every... |
5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 0 | |
| Totals | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 0 | |||