Josh Morrissey walked out of the clubhouse Friday morning at Pine Ridge Golf Course 15 minutes before the tournament that bears his name – The Josh Morrissey Classic Golf Tournament – was set to begin. The Jets defenceman had a smile on his face for many reasons. One of those is the fact that this tournament has raised over $650,000 for the Dream Factory.
“It’s just an awesome day, I always look forward to it usually its right before the start of the season. Kind of an exciting time of year getting back into the city and seeing a bunch of guys at the rink and having some guys come out here as well. Overall, the day is awesome, it’s for such a great cause,” said Morrissey.
“We’ve raised a lot of money in the six years and as I’ve been saying when you get to interact with the kids and their families, that’s what it’s all about, that’s why I choose to be the ambassador for Dream Factory. It’s just beyond special, beyond words in a lot of ways and this days a big part of that.”
The money raised has gone to make many dreams come true for kids in Manitoba that are battling life-threatening illnesses. Morrissey said the six years being involved with Dream Factory has changed him and the way he looks at things.
“The amazing thing when I actually did sign on with the Dream Factory at the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take on that role and certainly always felt I treated the role with a ton of respect and just wanted be able to fulfill it to the best I could,” said Morrissey.
“As a young guy, I talked to the prior director Howard and he was like ‘It’s tough, but we’re all about bringing smiles. We’re about the happy side for these kids and creating dreams and making their dreams come true.’ I really feel that’s been to most amazing part. You get to interact with these kids and their families, and it puts life into perspective, I think that’s something that I’ve taken through this process. The resiliency of these kids and their families is something everyone can admire.”
Morrissey admitted that sometimes during a tough stretch of a long NHL season, when things aren’t going well for either him or the team, he thinks of the kids and families that he has met over the past five years.
“I keep in contact with some of the kids. Whether you have a good game or a bad game or some kids are coming to the game to meet us afterwards, we just got out of a tough loss, or we are playing poorly,” said Morrissey.
“It’s pretty insane to see how happy they are to interact with you, to tell you about their dream or their upcoming dream, that kind of stuff puts everything in perspective. Like I said, when you can see the kids smiling that’s kind of all that needs to be said and that goes for anyone that wants to be involved.”
It’s been a longer summer for Morrissey who if you recall, was injured early into Game 3 of the Jets opening round series with the Vegas Golden Knights at Canada Life Centre. Not only did the Jets lose their top defenceman that game, but they were also trailing 4-1 after 40 minutes of play before staging an epic comeback to tie the game thanks to Adam Lowry’s goal at 19:38 of the third that made it 4-4. The Jets would fall in double overtime and then lose in five games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights. The good news is the 28-year-old is 100 per cent healthy heading into training camp.
“It was a heart-breaking time for me given that you work all year to make the playoffs, have a chance at winning a Stanley Cup. Coming home from Vegas we were in a pretty good position at 1-1, to get hurt the first shift basically of Game 3, I felt I wanted to be a difference maker in that series. I felt I was ready to be a difference maker in that series and to be taken out of that series is tough,” said Morrissey.
“On the flip side being hurt at the end of the season gives you an off-season to recover and not race back to try and return to play if that happened in November. My timeline was 4-6 weeks to play, so clearly, I’ve had more than that to do it right. I tried to be very diligent in my rehab. I used the different resources that I have available to recover fully. I feel fantastic, I personally want to build off my individual year last year and even improve on that. Very motivated and excited to get going.”
The Calgary native was in the Norris Trophy conversation for a significant period during the 2022-23 season. And for good reason, Morrissey put up career highs in goals (16), assists (60) and points (76) and he went to his first All-Star game and finished fifth in voting for the Norris Trophy which went to then Sharks defenceman Erik Karlsson. But Morrissey is far from being complacent entering this season, the second under head coach Rick Bowness.
“That was a huge year for me, a huge step forward. To me it’s in the past and there’s a bunch of stuff that I’ve been working on this summer to try and improve my game. That’s what’s always motivated me is trying to get better and work on various elements of my game offensively, defensively, all over the ice,” said Morrissey.
“That’s the fun part and you know, I want to build off the success I had last year and even be better for my team and try and win more hockey games.”
The Jets defenceman has been involved in the conversation to be the next captain of the Jets. Blake Wheeler was moved out of that role last season as Bowness wanted more voices to be heard in the dressing room. Wheeler signed with the New York Rangers in the off-season after being bought out of the final year of his contract. So now the question is, who will be the third captain in Jets 2.0 history?
“I think it’s something that every player feels is a huge honour. It’s something I wouldn’t take lightly and a be honoured to receive. But that’s a decision for an organization to make and the powers that be. There’s lots of great leaders on our team,” said Morrissey.
“For me personally whether I was named the captain or not, whether our team names a captain or not that doesn’t change the way I act day to day or conduct myself nor would it change anybody else. That’s obviously a decision for the team to make.”
