PITTSBURGH — The historic moment wasn’t lost on Todd Schaefer, the father of New York Islanders rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer.
In Matthew’s NHL debut, Todd, his eldest son, Johnny, and 25 other friends and family members were all cheering him on against the Pittsburgh Penguins from their section at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.
Sure, he’s watched his son do this so many times before, but this was different.
It happened on his sixth shift of the game. That’s when Matthew skated down wing and dumped the puck into the right-wing corner, allowing New York to go on the attack. He ultimately found himself with the puck in the left face-off circle, found a seam, and passed to Jonathan Drouin in the slot for the Islanders first goal of the season, in what would end in a 4-3 loss.
The assist enabled Schaefer (18 years, 34 days) to become the youngest defenseman in League history with a point in his first career game, a mark previously held by Scott Niedermayer (18 years, 46 days on Oct. 16, 1991).
The goal tied the game 1-1 at 12:02 of the first period. It also turned Todd into an emotional wreck.
He was standing up at the time, and Johnny was sitting in the first row of the suite. They were overcome by the moment but eventually found each other and embraced to provide some sort of emotional support.