It was yet another example of the kind of wit\u00a0and warmth<\/a> Islanders fans have become accustomed to from the defenseman.<\/p>\n\u201cI said, ‘Welcome to Long Island and good luck with your career, and I hope it\u2019s a good one.’ ”\u00a0the Syosset Schaefer said,<\/p>\n
So far, so good.<\/p>\n
This Matthew Schaefer is from Commack. Credit: Matthew Schaefer<\/p>\n
Another Matthew Schaefer,\u00a0of Commack, has\u00a0yet to meet the young Islander. He first heard about him\u00a0last June 27, the first day of the 2025 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not too deep into hockey that I know who the prospects are,\u201d the 22-year-old said. \u201cI just found out when they took him No. 1 overall, and I had a bunch of my friends joke-texting me like, \u2018Oh, congrats on the No. 1 pick.\u2019 Jokes like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely weird, but it was funny. Good laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n
UBS Arena is filled with No. 48 jerseys each game. The Commack Schaefer\u00a0attended a recent Islanders-Devils game and saw plenty of them, which he found amusing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of funny walking around seeing everyone with my name on their jersey,\u201d he said. \u201cI was making a joke to my buddy. I was like, \u2018Oh, look at all these people repping my jersey.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI was looking into getting a jersey. I was making the joke that normally people have to get one of those extra-expensive custom jerseys to get their name on the jersey, but I could just buy a regular-priced jersey for him\u00a0and it’d be the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Syosset\u00a0 Schaefer, who works for the Oyster Bay Housing Authority, grew up going to Islanders games at Nassau Coliseum. His son, Jayke, has season tickets directly behind one of the goals in Section 120 at UBS Arena. His whole family owns Schaefer jerseys.<\/p>\n
Having the same name as a star athlete can lead to interesting encounters. The perfect example is ESPN\u2019s 2013 TV commercial that shows a man named Michael Jordan showing up to places \u2014 whether it be a doctor\u2019s office, a restaurant or an airport \u2014 only to be greeted with disappointment that he is not the NBA legend. The Islanders\u2019 Schaefer is far from Jordan status, but similar exchanges have occurred for the Long Islanders with the same name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI coach AAU basketball,\u201d the Commack\u00a0Schaefer said. \u201cI had a couple new girls join my team, and we use this app called sportsYou, it’s like a team group chat app. One of the parents who I met for the first time at the first game, they’re like, \u2018Is your name actually Matthew Schaefer, like the Islanders player?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m like, \u2018Yeah, yeah. That\u2019s me. I know I’m not like the guy you were expecting.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Syosset\u2019s Schaefer, on the other hand, has been greeted with applause by people who recognize his name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going around and they\u2019re like, \u2018Matthew Schaefer (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap),\u2019 \u201d he said. \u201cEverywhere I go walking around, they\u2019re saying that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770918188_530_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
This Matthew Schaefer plays for the New York Islanders. Credit: Getty Images\/Bruce Bennett<\/p>\n
At the Olympic break<\/a>, the Islanders\u2019 Schaefer has 16 goals and 23 assists. He is one goal away from tying Hall of Famer Phil Housley for the most single-season goals in NHL history by an 18-year-old defenseman.<\/p>\nAnd for his fellow Matthew Schaefers, those memorable interactions may be only\u00a0the beginning.<\/p>\n
![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770918188_612_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports’ general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday\u2019s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Schaefer, meet . . . \u00a0Matthew Schaefer? The 18-year-old Islanders defenseman, the\u00a0No. 1 overall pick in last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[38585,394,385,138361,216348,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-464604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-li-athletes","9":"tag-new-york-islanders","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-oin","12":"tag-spenterprise","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}