Scroll through Hockey Twitter on a sleepy Sunday and—boom—two never-before-seen snapshots of Brad Scheifele, the late father of Mark Scheifele suddenly flood every feed. The smiles are pure dads-on-the-road joy: Brad rocking retro Jets gear, arm-in-arm with another proud hockey pop. The post reads only, “RIP Brad. I will really miss you buddy!” and everyone who watched Saturday’s OT heart-breaker stops mid-doom-scroll.

Within minutes, the original handle—@ChuckHellebuyck, father of Winnipeg goalie Connor—has the whole hockeyverse hitting the quote-tweet button like it’s a panic switch. Stars fans, Jets fans, neutral night-owls: nobody’s chirping playoff stats anymore. They’re zooming in on those photos and asking, “How did we never see these?”

Time to unpack the post that turned trash-talk into teary emojis…

Chuck Hellebuyck hit “send” at 3:21 a.m. ET, dropping two candid pics from a past Jets fathers’ trip: one of Brad reveling in a charter-plane toast, the other of the dads arm-locking in the tunnel moments before puck-drop. No PR filter, no canned statement—just raw, first-person grief from one hockey dad to another. Likes and reposts rocket past 25 K in an hour, and the replies fill with teal hearts, crossed-stick emojis, and fresh screenshots of the $55-for-55 charity receipts already north of $30 K.

The timing hits doubly hard. Barely nine hours earlier, Mark Scheifele had laced ’em up despite learning of his dad’s sudden passing that same morning. He scored Winnipeg’s lone goal, threw a game-high nine hits, logged 18:51, and then watched helplessly from the box as Dallas bagged the OT dagger on the power play his tripping minor created. A gut punch on ice; now a gut punch on the timeline. Chuck—whose son snagged the Vezina two seasons back—knew exactly what kind of father-son bond just got ripped open, and his tweet said it louder than any podium quote.

if you think that tweet was the end of the story, think again…

How one goodbye sparked a league-wide dad-strength moment

The photos unleashed something bigger than sympathy. Stars captain Jamie Benn reshared them with “Respect always,” while Dallas die-hards (yes, the same crowd that had razzed Scheifele all series) piled into the replies offering condolences—and proof of fresh $55 donations to the True North Youth Foundation. By lunchtime, Sportsnet was flashing a live counter for the campaign; by dinner, the number eclipsed $30 K and counting.

Journalists stitched the tweet into highlight reels: Mark’s five-hole snipe, the handshake-line bear hug from Benn, and finally Chuck’s late-night RIP. The montage hammered home what every hockey lifer already knows—franchise rivalries end at the boards, but the parents’ row is one traveling caravan. Whether it’s Colby Cave’s memorial drive or the David Ayres merch blitz, NHL families close ranks when tragedy elbows its way into the season.

Those unseen photos started as a private memento, snapped on some forgotten fathers’ trip. Chuck Hellebuyck’s simple “RIP” pushed them into the spotlight—and reminded the entire NHL community that the fiercest slap shot can’t compete with a dad’s hug in the tunnel. The Jets are cleaning out lockers, the Stars are prepping for the West Final, but the $55 ticker and the retweets keep rising. Hockey’s ultimate scoreboard isn’t the one over center ice; it’s moments like these, burned into the timeline forever, proving jersey colors fade but family—on the roster or in the stands—rides eternal.