Mitchell Marner

Mitchell Marner
Born (1997-05-05) May 5, 1997
Markham, ON, CAN
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 169 lb (77 kg; 12 st 1 lb)
Position Centre / Right Wing
Shoots Right
NHL team (P)
Cur. team		 Toronto Maple Leafs
London Knights (OHL)
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 4th overall, 2015
Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career TBD–present

Mitchell "Mitch" Marner (born May 5, 1997) is a Canadian ice hockey player. He is currently the co-captain of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Marner was born in Markham, Ontario, but grew up in Thornhill, Ontario. Marner was selected 4th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Personal life

Marner was born in Markham, Ontario, but spent the majority of his life in Thornhill, Ontario. He is the son of Paul and Bonnie Marner, and has one brother, Christopher, who is four years older.[1] In his draft year, the Marner family owned two pets, a cat named Burbank and a chocolate Labrador dog, Winston.[2] Marner attended Hill Academy, a private school focused on athletics, located in Vaughan.[3] He would later go to Blyth Academy.[2] At Blyth, Marner partnered with Knights teammates Christian Dvorak and Owen MacDonald to establish a cafe known as MOD Feast, with MOD being an acronym for each creators names (Marner, Owen and Devo).[2] The group offers "bagels and stuff", with Fridays being designated to serving pizza.[2]

Growing up, Marner was a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the very team that would draft him. He was also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks due to the presence of his two favourite players, Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane.[4] Alongside hockey, Marner has listed his favourite movie as Step Brothers, his favourite television show as The Big Bang Theory, and cited his favourite video games as the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty series'.[4]

Before every game, Marner eats a pack of Skittles.[5] On May 5, 2016 his family home in Thornhill was severely damaged in a fire. There were no injuries and the family dog and cat were rescued by firefighters.

Playing career

Minor

Marner started his youth hockey career playing for the Clarington Toros of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) as a seven year old, primarily playing with and against players a year older. After a year with the Toros, Marner moved to the Whitby Wildcats, also a part of OMHA. He spent two years playing for the Wildcats before transitioning to the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), where he joined the Vaughan Kings and went on to win a GTHL title.[6]

For the 2012–13 season, Marner transitioned to the Don Mills Flyers of the GTHL where he played his minor midget year, registering 86 points in 55 games.[7] He finished second in scoring in the GTHL behind Dylan Strome (who was then playing with the Toronto Marlboros). At the end of his season with the Flyers, he was immediately invited to joint the St. Michael's Buzzers of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League, where he went on to win a championship.

During his minor midget season, Marner was initially unsure of his plans for the following season. He received a scholarship offer from the University of Michigan, while also being drafted by the London Knights in the first round of the 2013 OHL Priority Selection, 19th overall.[3]

Major junior

Despite receiving a scholarship offer from the University of Michigan, Marner elected to sign with the London Knights, who selected him with their first round pick in the 2013 Priority Selection.[8]

Marner had a strong rookie season with the Knights, registering 59 points in 64 games and was the runner up for the OHL rookie of the year, behind Travis Konecny.

During the 2014–15 OHL season, Marner experienced superb play playing alongside line mate Max Domi. As the season progressed, Marner was consistently included as one of the top prospects in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, being listed as a definitive top ten pick, if not top five. He would lead the league in scoring for most of the season until Dylan Strome of the Erie Otters recorded six points in the final game of the season, knocking Marner down to second. in reward for his outstanding sophomore season, he was named to the OHL First All-Star team and awarded the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the OHL's highest scoring right wing player.[9] Marner would end up being selected fourth overall by the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. On July 28, 2015, the Leafs signed Marner to a three-year entry level contract.[10]

On October 1, 2015, Marner was named as co-captain of the Knights along with teammate, Christian Dvorak. Marner played most of the season on the right wing alongside Dvorak and Matthew Tkachuk. Marner dominated alongside his linemates throughout the season, ultimately recording 116 points in 57 games, good enough for Marner to win the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL's most outstanding player of the year.[11] During the 2016 playoffs, Marner recorded ludicrous numbers, helping London make it to the OHL finals against the Niagara IceDogs, having only lost two games in their run up to that point, and had swept the top seeded Erie Otters. As of game three of the Otters series, Marner held the distinction of the highest points-per-game average in the history of the OHL, recording 35 points in 13 games for the Knights for a pace of 2.69 points per game, well above the record holder, Justin Papineau, who had an average of 2.43 in the 1999 playoffs.[12]

International play

Marner made his international debut for Canada at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, where he won a gold medal. He tied Mathew Barzal for the leading scorer from Canada at the tournament.

At the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships held in Helsinki, Marner and Dylan Strome each scored four goals and 2 assists in 5 games to lead the Canadian team in scoring.[13] Canada reached the quarterfinals, but was eliminated by the host Finland.[14]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2012–13 St. Michael's Buzzers OJHL 6 1 3 4 0 14 3 1 4 0
2013–14 London Knights OHL 64 13 46 59 24 9 3 6 9 4
2014–15 London Knights OHL 63 44 82 126 53 7 9 7 16 8
2015–16 London Knights OHL 57 39 77 116 68 - - - - -
OHL totals 184 96 205 301 145 16 12 13 25 12

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2014 Canada Ontario U17 5th 5 6 3 9 2
2014 Canada IH18 1st 5 2 5 7 6
2016 Canada WJC 6th 5 4 2 6 4
Junior totals 15 12 10 22 12

Awards and honours

Award Year
OHL
Second All-Rookie Team 2014 [15]
First All-Star Team 2015 [16]
Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy 2015 [9]
Red Tilson Trophy 2016 [11]

References

  1. ↑ McGran, Kevin (July 9, 2015). "Mitch Marner’s journey to be Maple Leafs’ top pick". thestar.com. Toronto Star. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rutherford, Kristina (February 23, 2015). "A Big Knight Every Night". Sportsnet Magazine (Rogers Media). Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Pyette, Ryan (April 9, 2013). "London Knights take Mitch Marner with first round pick in OHL draft 0". London Free Press.
  4. 1 2 "Mitch Marner - 2015 NHL Draft Prospects". nhl.com. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  5. ↑ Gretz, Adam (June 25, 2015). "2015 NHL Draft first round live blog". cbssports.com. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  6. ↑ McNair, Brian (May 16, 2014). "Mitchell Marner’s road to the Memorial Cup started in Clarington". DurhamRegion.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  7. ↑ Bras, Kristopher (March 28, 2015). "London Knights Mitchell Marner A Force To Be Reckoned With". Hockey Now. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Marner Commits to Knights". London Knights Official Website. August 22, 2013.
  9. 1 2 "Marner wins Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy". Ontario Hockey League. March 24, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Maple Leafs sign Marner to entry-level contract". mapleleafs.nhl.com. July 28, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Mitch Marner Named OHL Most Outstanding Player of the Year". Ontario Hockey League. May 3, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  12. ↑ Forbes, Andrew (April 27, 2016). "Mitch Marner on the Verge of OHL History?". The Hockey Writers. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Player Statistics by Team - Team Canada, 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships" (PDF). IIHF. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Game Summary, Finland-Canada Quarterfinals, 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships" (PDF). IIHF. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "Travis Konecny named rookie of the year". Ontario Hockey League. April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  16. ↑ "OHL annoucnes 2014-15 All-Star Teams". Ontario Hockey League. May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2015.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
William Nylander		 Toronto Maple Leafs first round draft pick
2015 		Succeeded by
Incumbent


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