every team\u2019s going to really do that<\/a>. A lot of teams are going to be coming for you, so I guess just make good plays, take your hit. \u2026 You just got to be ready to take the hits.<\/p>\nQ: What is your best hockey moment?<\/p>\n
A: I think getting drafted was obviously pretty cool, but just making the opening night roster, being able to play in the NHL, I think that\u2019s been pretty cool.<\/p>\n
Q: Your worst loss?<\/p>\n
A: I\u2019d have to say gold medal loss in minor hockey.<\/p>\n
Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer (48) speaks to the media during practice at the Northwell Health Ice Center, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
Q: Have you found good pizza yet?<\/p>\n
A: Matt Martin knows where to get the pizza, so I just listen to him and he orders the pizza and then we\u2019ll eat it.<\/p>\n
Q: Bagels?<\/p>\n
A: The first time I got a bagel I put a little too much cream on it \u2014 I had avocado, cream cheese and it was a lot. With the avocado, cream cheese is very like creamy in a way, so I was like, \u201cMaybe we take one of those off.\u201d I got one bagel with bacon, egg and cheese, and then another one was a French toast bagel with cream cheese. So two great orders, but I can definitely add on to that and maybe add some hash browns, so we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0You are living at the Martin house.\u00a0Is Mrs. Martin, the former Sydney Esiason, a good cook?<\/p>\n
A: Yes. Her and her mom are both are both really good cooks, but they\u2019re also really good people, so super happy to be there.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you call her?<\/p>\n
A: I call her Syd. I\u2019m so close to her I call her everything. She\u2019s like another mom. She\u2019s like an older sister, sometimes I call her girlfriend (chuckle), no she\u2019s the best.<\/p>\n
Q: What\u2019s Boomer Esiason like?<\/p>\n
A: (Laugh). He\u2019s the best. That was actually the first time I met him the other day, so I\u2019ll be seeing him a lot and watching football with him, but he\u2019s awesome. I was talking about how his career was and how he started in Maryland and everything. He knows what it takes to work hard. He was the 11th-string at one point and then he was in the NFL.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you listen to his radio show?<\/p>\n
A: Yeah, I listened to his radio show a couple of times. I\u2019ll listen to it more now obviously because Syd and all them listen to it.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you know about Rangers fans?<\/p>\n
A: Well, I met Boomer, so he\u2019s a little crazy (laugh). No, obviously they\u2019re passionate, big rivalry between us and the Rangers. I\u2019m just focused on our team here.<\/p>\n
Former Islanders left wing Matt Martin (17) during warm up before of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals on April 15, 2025. Noah K. Murray-NY Post<\/p>\n
Q: Do you do chores living at the Martin house?<\/p>\n
A: (Laugh) Marty always chirps me, he\u2019s always like, \u201cWhen are you going to start doing stuff around here?\u201dand stuff like that. And Syd\u2019s like, \u201cNo you\u2019re not doing anything,\u201d and stuff like that. I always play with the kids and stuff like that, so I guess if that\u2019s considered a chore.<\/p>\n
Q: What is the best Thanksgiving you ever had?<\/p>\n
A: It\u2019ll be soon, at the Esiason Thanksgiving that I go to. I think this will probably be the best one.<\/p>\n
Q: Why do you think this will be the best one?<\/p>\n
A: Syd\u2019s telling me there\u2019s just a lot of food, there\u2019s a lot of people there. They do a lot of fun things so I\u2019m excited.<\/p>\n
Q: You like turkey?<\/p>\n
A: I love it.<\/p>\n
Q: What are you most thankful for?<\/p>\n
A: I\u2019m thankful for, first off, my family, friends, teammates \u2026 being thankful to have all those years with my mom, get to spend time with her. \u2026 thankful that she\u2019s not suffering anymore and she\u2019s happy in peace. And obviously just thankful for all the people that have helped me along the way \u2014 my best friend [Ryan Scriven] and his family, they\u2019ve helped me so much and they helped my dad a lot all the way. For my dad\u2019s 60th birthday they made a video and it was videos of all of us making funny videos of him saying happy birthday, and then they added videos and pictures of him from over the years.<\/p>\n
[Ryan is] still my best friend, talk to him every day, we played hockey growing up and then our families became super close. I consider them second mom and second dad, and then he has a younger brother Brady Scriven. They came to my first game in Pittsburgh, all of them. He couldn\u2019t come, but his parents came to watch my first home game here at UBS. They\u2019re going to come down for quite a bit, so I\u2019ll get to see them and show them around. Go to New York City and do stuff probably. That\u2019ll be around Christmastime, so it depends when they come down and then we\u2019ll do some stuff.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you want to see in New York City?<\/p>\n
A: Can\u2019t wait for Christmas \u2026 all the lights and all the stuff in Christmastime.<\/p>\n
Q: What is your favorite Christmas memory?<\/p>\n
A: Santa would always go all out (smile) with the gifts and stuff like that. I think every Christmas Eve we\u2019d go to church, and then we\u2019d go back to either my house or my aunt\u2019s house with my cousins and stuff. We\u2019d have a big dinner and we\u2019d open gifts and stuff like that together. I think just spending time with family is just the best thing ever. Going outside, playing in the snow with my family and stuff.<\/p>\n
Q: You have a car?<\/p>\n
A: I have a Cadillac. \u2026 It\u2019s a Vistiq. It\u2019s an electric car.<\/p>\n
Q: What\u2019s on your bucket list?<\/p>\n
A: Going on more vacations, traveling. I think going to Greece or Italy, travel the world a little more.<\/p>\n
Matthew Schaefer #48 of the New York Islanders reacts after he scores a goal during the first period when the New York Islanders played the Columbus Blue Jackets Sunday, November 2, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
Q: If you could go back in time and defend against any forward in NHL history, who would it be?<\/p>\n
A: I think when I was not in the NHL, I\u2019d say [Sidney] Crosby and then I\u2019d have to say [Wayne] Gretzky would be pretty cool.<\/p>\n
Q: If you were on a breakaway and had to beat any goaltender in NHL history?<\/p>\n
A: [Ilya] Sorokin [then Schaefer shakes his head and smiles across the locker room] \u2026 Patrick Roy (laugh). I\u2019ll say that because he\u2019s my coach.<\/p>\n
Q: Who are athletes in other sports you admire?<\/p>\n
A: I do love Tiger Woods. \u2026 I love golf. Obviously he\u2019s a great player. \u2026 Guys I admire, I think it goes back to like the hockey community, like Nick Foligno and Marcus Foligno \u2014 they obviously lost their mom at a young age, so they\u2019ve helped me so much just through everything.<\/p>\n
Q: What\u2019s the best and worst part of your golf game?<\/p>\n
A: Ooh, there\u2019s a lot there. I\u2019m not very consistent because I don\u2019t play too much. If my driver is on, that\u2019s a really good thing, but if it\u2019s not, then we\u2019re not looking good.<\/p>\n
Q: Four dinner guests?<\/p>\n
A: Cal Clutterbuck, Matt Martin, Josh Bailey \u2026 and I\u2019d have to say my mom.<\/p>\n
Q: Favorite movie?<\/p>\n
A: \u201cGrown Ups\u201d or \u201cHappy Gilmore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: Favorite actor?<\/p>\n
A: Adam Sandler.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Q: Favorite actress?<\/p>\n
A: Jennifer Aniston.<\/p>\n
Q: Favorite rapper\/entertainer\/singer?<\/p>\n
A: For rap, I\u2019ll say Drake. I love remixes, so there\u2019s a group called Two Friends.<\/p>\n
Q: Favorite meal?<\/p>\n
A: I love a good steak. I love good Italian food, too.<\/p>\n
Q: What are you most proud of about yourself?<\/p>\n
A: I don\u2019t really get proud of myself for anything. \u2026 Just keep winning games as a team, I think that\u2019s the biggest thing. I don\u2019t really like to talk about myself much.<\/p>\n
Q: Why don\u2019t you like talking about yourself?<\/p>\n
A: Because there\u2019s a lot more to the game of hockey than just yourself. There\u2019s five guys on the ice, and there\u2019s four lines at forward, three lines at D and then two goalies.<\/p>\n
Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) gets some attention and rough play that ended in a fight when his teammates came to his defense during the second period when the Islanders played the Bruins on Nov. 4, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
Q: What do you want your hockey legacy to be?<\/p>\n
A: (Laugh). Still a lot of time, many more years until that, but I don\u2019t know. I guess we\u2019ll see where it goes. We\u2019ll focus on this season, do what I can do and then see what we can do as a team, and then I think we\u2019ll worry about that down the road.<\/p>\n
Q: A message to Islanders fans.<\/p>\n
A: Thanks for everything they do. They come out each and every night, makes it easy for us to play in front of them. Best fans in the league.<\/p>\n
Q: Describe playing on the New York stage.<\/p>\n
A: I love it. It\u2019s awesome. It\u2019s worked out so amazing, I love everyone here. All the guys on the team have been awesome, the staff, management. Everything\u2019s been awesome here and I love New York.<\/p>\n
Q: New York doesn\u2019t scare you.<\/p>\n
A: No, not at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Islanders 18-year-old rookie Matthew Schaefer, the first-overall draft pick in June, takes a shot at some Q&A with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[20293,16790,9,11,6821,10,49,51,50,539,20294,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-34068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-matt-martin","9":"tag-matthew-schaefer","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-new-york-state","15":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-state-news","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-serbys-qa","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}