Toronto Maple Leafs sign Swedish rapper Markindapark to NHL contract

Mark Owuya had best save percentage in Swedish Elite League

Swedish hockey player and rapper Mark Owuya's father is from Uganda and his mother is Russian. Owuya is known in Sweden as a promising young professional hockey player and as an emerging hip hop entertainer, known first for rapping on popular talent show Idol as "Mark In Da Park," and more recently through his YouTube videos.

Please enjoy these photos and videos of new Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender signing Mark Owuya.



Mark Aloysius Opoya Owuya (born 18 July 1989) is a professional Swedish ice hockey goaltender, currently a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization of the National Hockey League, having been signed by Toronto on 28 April 2011.



Owuya began playing junior hockey with Djurgårdens IF in the 2005–06 season when he began playing with the U18 team. The following season Owuya played with both Djurgården's U18 and J20 team and also played most of the games with the Djurgården's J20 team in the 2007–08 season. While Stefan Ridderwall joined team Sweden for the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Owuya made his Elitserien debut on 3 January 2008, against Brynäs IF.






He was loaned out to Mälarhöjden/Bredängs IK during the 2007–08 winter, later was loaned out to Almtuna IS for the entire 2008–09 season. Owuya was also on loan during the 2009–10 season, first to Örebro HK and later Mora IK. In the 2010 pre-season, Owuya was moved up to Djurgården's senior team, to compete with goaltender Stefan Ridderwall to be the first choice in the goal.




Ultimately, Owuya played in 32 out of 55 games in the 2010–11 Elitserien season, with a 2.18 goals against average and league-best save percentage of .927. He also played in all of Djurgården's seven playoff games, with a 1.66 goals against average and .924.