Mason McTavish (born January 30, 2003) is a Canadian professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
for the
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center.
...
of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL). McTavish was selected third overall by the Ducks in the first round of the
2021 NHL Entry Draft. He made his NHL debut with the Ducks in 2021. Internationally McTavish played for the
Canadian national team at the
2022 Winter Olympics
The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...
.
Playing career
McTavish played minor ice hockey for the
Pembroke Lumber Kings, where he was coached by his father,
Dale McTavish
Dale B. McTavish (born February 28, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played nine games in the National Hockey League for the Calgary Flames in 1996–97, recording one goal and two assists.
Playing career
McTavish w ...
, who also owned the team. He was selected fifth overall in the 2019 OHL Draft by the
Peterborough Petes
The Peterborough Petes are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. The team has played at the Peterborough Memorial Centre in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, since 1956, and is the oldest continuously operating team in the league.
...
, the same junior team his father played for. In his first year of junior hockey, he finished second among under-17 players in goals before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down. The following season, with the OHL season suspended due to the pandemic, McTavish returned to Switzerland, though he was unable to get a work visa until he turned eighteen, eventually joining second division side
EHC Olten
EHC Olten is a Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Olten, Switzerland. It plays in the Swiss League, the second tier ice hockey league in Switzerland. It has claimed two Swiss League Championships, gaining promotion to the National League ...
in February, where he would play thirteen games before returning home to play in the
Under-18 World Championships, where he served as captain and scored eleven points in seven games as Canada won the gold medal.
McTavish was selected third overall by the
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center.
...
in the
2021 NHL Entry Draft. He signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Ducks on August 13, 2021. He was initially scheduled to not play in the team's opening day game against the
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...
but was added to the lineup just hours before the contest. In his NHL debut, McTavish scored his first career goal and recorded an assist in a 4–1 win. At 18 years, 256 days old, he surpassed
Oleg Tverdovsky
Oleg (russian: Олег), Oleh ( uk, Олег), or Aleh ( be, Алег) is an East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine and Belаrus. It derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' ( Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "bless ...
as the youngest Duck to score a goal. McTavish skated in three games before a lower-body injury forced him out of the lineup. He was assigned to the Ducks'
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...
(AHL) affiliate, the
San Diego Gulls
The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in San Diego, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks, the Gulls play th ...
, on a conditioning loan on October 28. He recorded two points in three games for the Gulls while with the club. McTavish finished with two goals and one assist in nine games overall for the Ducks before being re-assigned to the Petes on November 20. With not having exceeded the nine-game mark, the Ducks did not burn a year off of McTavish's entry-level contract.
McTavish appeared in 5 games with the Petes, posting 6 goals and 7 points before he was traded to contending club, the
Hamilton Bulldogs
The Hamilton Bulldogs are a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League that began to play in the 2015–16 OHL season, 2015–16 season. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the Bulldogs play their home games at FirstOntario Cent ...
, in exchange for two prospects and 6 draft selections on January 9, 2022.
International play
McTavish made his international debut with
Canada's U18 team at the
2021 IIHF World U18 Championships in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. He tallied five goals and six assists in seven games, while Team Canada won the gold medal. Later in the year he was invited to join the roster for the
national junior team in advance of the
2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were the 46th edition of the IIHF World Junior Championship, played from August 9–20, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from Dece ...
. However, the tournament was cancelled after Team Canada had played two games, as a result of the spread of the
Omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
. Shortly afterward, McTavish was selected to play for
Team Canada at the
2022 Winter Olympics
The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...
, the NHL having declined to allow its players to take part. He was part of the team's first line alongside veteran
Eric Staal
Eric Craig Staal (born October 29, 1984) is a Canadian professional ice hockey center for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Buffalo S ...
and AHLer
Josh Ho-Sang, but Team Canada struggled in the tournament and was eliminated in
the quarter-finals. When the
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...
revived the cancelled 2022 World Junior Championships in August of 2022, McTavish was again on the roster, and this time was named captain of the team in the absence of
Kaiden Guhle. In an August 11 group stage game against
Team Slovakia, McTavish scored four goals as part of an 11–1 victory, tying a record for most goals scored by a Canadian player in a single World Junior game. Team Canada advanced to the gold medal game against
Team Finland, where McTavish had his most significant moment of the tournament in overtime, using his stick to knock Finnish defenceman
Topi Niemelä's potential game-winning shot out of midair onto the goal line, preventing a loss. Dubbed "the McTavish Miracle," it was considered an exceptionally skilled defensive play, and facilitated Canada's victory minutes later. McTavish was named the tournament MVP and one of Canada's three best players.
Personal life
McTavish was born in Switzerland while his father,
Dale, was playing for
SC Rapperswil-Jona. He first began playing ice hockey in
Zug
, neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri
, twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina)
Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...
before the family returned to Canada when Mason was eight years old following Dale's retirement. The family settled in
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...
. He has one older brother, Darian.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Awards and honours
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McTavish, Mason
2003 births
Living people
Anaheim Ducks draft picks
Anaheim Ducks players
Canadian ice hockey centres
EHC Olten players
Hamilton Bulldogs (OHL) players
National Hockey League first-round draft picks
Peterborough Petes (ice hockey) players
San Diego Gulls (AHL) players
Ice hockey people from Zürich
Swiss emigrants to Canada
Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Olympic ice hockey players of Canada