Schaefer Could Turn Scotiabank Arena Into Islanders Home Ice Tonight
Isles will wear blue home jerseys as well.
EAST MEADOW, NY — You never forget your first — your first game back home in front of family and friends, that is. That’s what’s on the schedule for the New York Islanders No.1 pick, Matthew Schaefer, tonight.
The 18-year-old Rookie of the Year favorite is from Hamilton, Ontario, less than an hour away from where his childhood team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, play.
Schaefer will have plenty of supporters in the stands for the game.
“There are lots of people [coming] that I’ve known but may not be super close to. It’ll be pretty close to 1,000. It’s nuts,” Schaefer said on Monday. “Honestly, we have a box. So a lot of people I’m super close with will be in the box, and other people will get their own tickets and things like that. But, I mean, a lot of people are texting my dad.”
Schaefer is someone who never seems overwhelmed by anything that is thrown his way. When we spoke to him ahead of his first week in the NHL about going up against Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid, he told us it was just a game.
Tonight is different.