Jonathon Gary Frank Mirasty (born June 4, 1982) is a

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Canadian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player who has played in multiple leagues including the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

, AHL, and

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. Nicknamed "Nasty" by both teammates and fans, Mirasty developed a cult following throughout his career due to his

Mohawk hairstyle The mohawk (also referred to as a mohican in British English) is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair in the center. Mohawk hairstyles have existed for ...

and his laughing during his fights.

Playing career

Mirasty started his career playing

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

for various teams in the

SJHL The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. Open to North American-born players 20 years of ...

, WHL, and

MJHL The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior ice hockey, Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirt ...

from 1999 to 2003. Upon turning professional, Mirasty signed with the

Bakersfield Condors The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team based in Bakersfield, California. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their home games at Dignity Healt ...

of the

in 2003. In 2004, he played two games for ECHL teams but spent the majority of the season playing for the Sorel-Tracy Mission of the LNAH. From 2005 to 2007, he played for both the Mission and also the

Danbury Trashers The Danbury Trashers were a United Hockey League (UHL) professional ice hockey team located in Danbury, Connecticut, first established in 2004 as an expansion team. The team was named for its owner's business in waste management; James Galante p ...

of the UHL. After playing low-level pro-hockey for several years, Mirasty originally planned on retiring from hockey in 2006. Instead, in 2007, Mirasty was soon given a chance to play for the

Syracuse Crunch The Syracuse Crunch are a professional ice hockey team based in Syracuse, New York. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning. They play in they home games at the Upstate Medical Univer ...

of the AHL, a minor-league affiliate of the

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The Blue Jackets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern C ...

, where he appeared in a number of NHL exhibition games while continuing to compete for the minor league team over the next four seasons. Mirasty finished the 2010-11 regular season with the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team, which currently plays in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In all of North American professional hockey, only the Orig ...

after starting it with the

Elmira Jackals The Elmira Jackals were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Elmira, New York. They were members of the United Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and the ECHL from 2007 to 2017. The Jackals played their home games at First Arena. ...

; he was left off the playoff roster, however. Following this, he left North America and played two seasons for

teams in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. After returning to North America, Mirasty played a few more years playing low level professional hockey; his last season with significant professional playing time was during the 2014–15 season in the LNAH and he last appeared in a professional game in any capacity during the 2022–23 season for the

Binghamton Black Bears The Binghamton Black Bears are a minor professional hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) based in Binghamton, New York, with home games at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena. History A new Federal Prospects Hockey League ( ...

of the FPHL. Since 2015, Mirasty has primarily played

senior hockey Senior hockey refers to amateur or semi-professional ice hockey competition. There are no age restrictions for Senior players, who typically consist of those whose Junior eligibility has expired. Senior hockey leagues operate under the jurisdicti ...

Mixed martial arts

In his youth Mirasty competed in boxing and was provincial and golden gloves champion in 1998 and 1999. Mirasty made his professional

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

debut against Sebastian Gauthier in 2007 as part of

TKO Major League MMA TKO Major League MMA was a Canadian mixed martial arts promotion established in 2000, it was originally broadcast on RDS and later on Fight Network. Formerly known as the Universal Combat Challenge (UCC), it was the first mixed martial arts prom ...

, losing in the first round during TKO 29: Repercussion in Montreal.

Acting career

He made his acting debut as a hockey player in the television series ''

Shoresy ''Shoresy'' is a Canadian television comedy series created by and starring Jared Keeso that premiered on Crave on May 13, 2022. A spin-off of ''Letterkenny'', the series focuses on the titular character of Shoresy (Keeso) as he moves to Sudbur ...

''.Greg David
"Game faces on. Production underway on Letterkenny spin-off series Shoresy"
''TV, eh?'', November 19, 2021.

Personal life

Mirasty, a

Canadian Indian, is a distant cousin of teammate

Jeremy Yablonski Jeremy Yablonski (born March 21, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), right winger. Primarily a hockey Enforcer (ice hockey), enforcer, Yablonski was a Golden Glove boxer and a 3 time MMA heavy weight Champion. ...

. Mirasty is married to Janessa Mirasty and has three children, older son Triston and younger daughters Ava and Bexlee. When not playing hockey, or coaching his son, Mirasty spends time breaking and training horses on his ranch in Meadow Lake. After playing over nine seasons professionally, Mirasty saw a future in business and opened up his town's first Tim Hortons within a 90-mile radius. However, four months into the operation Mirasty and his family were forced to sell in 2016 due to personal health problems Mirasty was facing. In March 2023, Mirasty was elected as a council member of the

Flying Dust First Nation The Flying Dust First Nation ( ''kâ-ohpâwahkâstahk'') is a Cree First Nation band government located adjacent to the city of Meadow Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. Highway 55 goes through the band's reserve community. Indian reserves The band ...

; his grandfather, Frank, was once the chief of the Flying Dust First Nation. Mirasty learned the

Cree language Cree ( ; also known as Cree–Montagnais language, Montagnais–Naskapi language, Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 86,475 people across Canada in 2021, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to ...

from his grandparents and self-estimates a 70% proficiency in speaking it.

References

External links

ESPN.com - E-ticket: Men Who Love Goons
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirasty, Jon 1982 births Bakersfield Condors (1998–2015) players Barys Astana players Danbury Trashers players Elmira Jackals (ECHL) players First Nations sportspeople Fort Wayne Komets players Greenville Grrrowl players Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan Living people Moose Jaw Warriors players Prince Albert Raiders players OCN Blizzard players Sportspeople from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan Syracuse Crunch players Tri-City Americans players HC Vityaz players Canadian ice hockey left wingers Sorel-Tracy Éperviers players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen