Matthew Schaefer went first overall in the NHL draft, but it wasn’t an easy path for him to get there. Something extreme happened to him when he was 16 years old, something that should never happen to a 16 year old. The date is December 13, 2024 and Matthew got the news that the manager of the Erie Otters Ice Hockey team had sadly passed away.  A year before that, in 2023, his billet mom sadly passed away also. What broke him, but gave him motivation to succeed was that  Matthew Schaefer’s mom had lost her 2nd battle to breast cancer in January 2024. Matthew Schaefer didn’t have the best injury luck the year he was going to get drafted as that season he played only 17 games with his injuries. Matthew Schaefer missed the first 9 games of his season for mononucleosis. He also suffered a broken collar bone ending his season on December 27, 2024 in the IIHF World Junior Championship game. Despite all the adversity, Matthew Schaefer went first overall in the NHL draft to the New York Islanders. The New York Islander put a cancer ribbon on his jersey, and on the collar of the back of his jersey, it had his Mom’s initials JS, standing for Jennifer Schaefer. Matthew Schaefer dedicated his suite to his mom by putting pictures of him and her in the suite. On the night of the NHL draft when he got selected there wasn’t a dry eye in his family. His brother Johnny, his dad Todd and Matthew included were all crying. When the Islanders drafted him, he kissed the cancer ribbon and looked up. Schaefer is lighting the league on fire and has every NHL fan on his side except for most of the grumpy Rangers fans. Schaefer has broken many records so far and will continue to break them as the season goes on.