Mark Scheifele’s Hot-Mic Moment Leaves Insider Cracking Up

The whole thing started with his minor penalty in OT. In some leagues, like the IIHF, a player who still has time remaining on a penalty when overtime ends is ineligible to participate in the shootout. The NHL doesn’t use it, so Scheifele would’ve been eligible — until things escalated.

When Scheifele came out of the box, he immediately kept jawing at the officials. At first, it looked like harmless venting. But he didn’t stop. You could see — and hear — the refs giving him room to cool off. He didn’t. Eventually, it hit the threshold where they had no choice but to toss him with a misconduct. Once that happened, Scheifele took himself out of the game and the shootout.

Scheifele’s Choice of Language Made the Situation Unique

As Elliotte Friedman pointed out, what made the sequence hilarious instead of headline-explosive was the audio. The hot mic picked up Scheifele using words like “flipping,” or “freaking,” the kind of old-school, PG-rated frustration you’d hear from a guy who refuses to drop an F-bomb even in overtime chaos. For a league where mics often catch players saying things that definitely don’t belong on national TV, it was almost wholesome.

Still, it was a reminder: there are microphones everywhere now. Players can’t assume anything they say on the ice stays on the ice.

Scheifele avoided any fine or disciplinary follow-up. Had he been the type to let a few choice words fly, we might be talking about something very different today. Instead, he skated away with nothing more than a funny viral moment — and maybe a renewed respect for nearby audio equipment.