Honzek to play for Slovakia at World Championships

Top NHL draft prospect Schaefer honors late-mother in not letting personal tragedies define him

Winnipeg Free Press

an hour ago

Winnipeg Free Press

Top NHL draft prospect Schaefer honors late-mother in not letting personal tragedies define him

When the time comes for defenseman Matthew Schaefer to take the stage at the NHL draft inside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles this week, the top-ranked prospect won't be climbing the stairs alone. There's no doubt in Schaefer's mind his late mother Jennifer will be accompanying him in spirit. It will stand as a joyous moment for the 17-year-old Erie Otters player celebrating the person who's been at his side for every step even after she died of cancer some 16 months ago. 'I love talking about my mom, because I talk about the happy memories instead of the sad memories,' Schaefer said. He recalled the times Jennifer suited up in goalie equipment to face shots from him and his older brother. Even when sick, she'd muster the energy to play mini-sticks in the family basement. 'She's always with me in spirit. I know she has a front-row seat to every game,' Schaefer added. 'I just want to carry on her legacy and character and the person she was.' His mother's poise and strength are reflected in shaping Schaefer's-upbeat perspective in the face of other losses and setbacks. Some two months before Schaefer's mother died, the mother of his billet family was struck and killed by a train in what was ruled a death by suicide. In December, he was in Ottawa representing Canada at the world junior championships when Otters owner and Schaefer's mentor, Jim Waters, died of a heart attack. Schaefer broke his collarbone at the tournament, forcing him to miss the final three months of the season. Through it all, Schaefer refuses to be defined by pain and tragedy. 'My mindset has changed a lot with everything. Just seeing what my mom went through, having a smile on her face with cancer kind of trying to bring her down, but she wouldn't let it,' he said. 'She's the strongest person I've ever known.' No. 1 in Central Scouting rankings A testament to Schaefer's perseverance: The 6-foot-2, 183-pound player from Hamilton, Ontario, has remained atop NHL Central Scouting's rankings among North American skaters with the two-day draft opening on Friday. Though the debate between ranking Schaefer over high-scoring OHL Saginaw Spirit center Michael Misa was close, scouting director Dan Marr said Schaefer earned the nod because of the development he showed when healthy. Marr referred to Schaefer as 'stealing the show' at Canada's Under-18 summer camp before scoring six points (two goals, four assists) in captaining Canada to win the Hlinka/Gretzky Cup in August. After missing the start of the OHL season with mononucleosis, he posted 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 17 games with Erie before being sidelined at the world juniors. 'He's one of the guys I think teams can safely interpret what you see is what you get,' Marr said of a two-way, fluid-skating defenseman who is responsible defensively, a play-maker offensively, and labeled 'a special talent' by Central Scouting. What's unmeasurable is Schaefer's character. 'He's just a breath of fresh air,' Marr said. It's a quality Otters forward Malcolm Spence saw in Schaefer every day as a roommate. 'He's a guy that you wouldn't even know what he's gone through,' Spence said. 'He wakes up every day with a smile on his face.' Engaging personality Schaefer's engaging personality was on display throughout the pre-draft combine in Buffalo, New York, followed by him joining top prospects in attending Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final in Florida. In skipping the combine's bench-press and pullup testing portions, he urged his fellow prospects to succeed. In Florida, Schaefer recalled how his hotel room wasn't ready upon arrival, so he took advantage of a sunny day. 'We got a little tan going on, a couple of us,' he said. 'I'm happy with that. I'm pretty light as it is. I have a hockey rink tan, as I'd say.' The only thing fazing him was being awestruck in meeting several NHL players, including Florida's Brad Marchand and Edmonton's Connor McDavid, a former Otters player who went No. 1 in the 2015 draft. Schaefer elicited a laugh when saying he was rooting for the Oilers, before noting he failed to mention that in meeting Marchand. Sharing his story There is a serious side to Schaefer, evident during the combine. He made a point to visit a Buffalo-area outreach group for grieving youths. Gwen Mysiak, co-founder of Western New York Compassion Connection, was impressed by how Schaefer engaged an audience that included about 15 youths, ranging in ages 7 to 17. 'When he walked through these doors, you sensed the genuine nature he has, and how passionate he is to make a difference with all his pain,' she said. 'To have peer support coming from a young man like that on the precipice of his NHL career was a gift,' added Mysiak, whose husband died two years ago. 'I will be watching the NHL draft for the first time in my life because he really captured our hearts.' Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Schaefer said the visit was the least he could do, noting he skipped his high school graduation ceremony to be there. 'There's young kids that are going through tough times. A lot of people love to keep it in, and I want to try to put their minds at ease in any way,' Schaefer said, before reflecting on his experiences. 'You know, if love could have saved them, they would have lived forever. That's a good saying I go by,' he said. 'But everything happens for a reason in life. Makes me super stronger. And I want to help people.' ___ AP NHL:

SIMMONS SAYS: The Florida Panthers are one of hockey's greatest teams

Calgary Herald

an hour ago

Calgary Herald

SIMMONS SAYS: The Florida Panthers are one of hockey's greatest teams

Article content HEAR AND THERE Article content The 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame Class will be introduced on Tuesday. So here's my Hall of Fame class a few days early: I'll start with the long-overdue Alexander Mogilny and then add the three first-time eligible Carey Price, Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton. And apologies to Duncan Keith, who deserves first-ballot Hall of Fame entry but there's only room for four players … My Builder, who has been passed over for far too long, is women's hockey executive Fran Rider. And my choice from the women's side as a player, Jennifer Botterill, who also should have been added by now …. So how exactly did lower taxes in Florida help GM Zito trade for Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, Bennett, Seth Jones, Brad Marchand and Brandon Montour? Anybody anywhere do better trading than that? And how did lower tax rates in Florida help the Lightning draft Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point over a short period of time? Do they have an accountant as their chief scout? By the way, the Dallas Stars have been in a state without taxes long before the NHL went to a salary cap. They have won the Stanley Cup only once — and that came on an illegal goal in 1999. One more thing: Nashville has won no Stanley Cups in 26 years in business and might be the best place to live in America. How have the tax laws helped the Predators, who had a Hall of Fame general manager in David Poile? … The last three teams to win back-to-back Stanley Cups had terrific third lines: Florida had Anton Lundell centring Eetu Luostarinen and Marchand; Tampa had Yanni Gourde centring Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow; And before that, Pittsburgh had Nick Bonino centring Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin. The Lundell-Luostarinen-Marchand line finished these playoffs with 57 points. The HBK line had 56 in 2016 … The best defensive defencemen in hockey: 1. Jaccob Slavin of Carolina; 2. Gustav Forsling of Florida; 3. Chris Tanev of Toronto … How great is the combination of Barkov and Forsling on the Panthers? Well, add this up: McDavid had just four even-strength points in the Stanley Cup final and was a minus-7. Last year, he had eight even-strength points and was plus-5 … Washington's Brian MacLellan did not get nominated for the Jim Gregory Award as general manager of the year for one simple reason. He wasn't the general manager of the Capitals this season. Chris Patrick was. But MacLellan was GM last June and early July when the Capitals made eight roster changes to vault them into a first-place season. If there was a GM of the year award for someone no longer a GM, it would go to MacLellan. Article content Article content SCENE AND HEARD Article content Sunday night is Game 7 of the NBA Finals that will not end. And possibly it willl be history in the making. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could become the first Canadian basketball player to win the MVP, the championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and win the Finals MVP all in the same year. Steve Nash has won MVPs but never won a title. Other Canadians, most notably Jamal Murray and Andrew Wiggins, have been significant parts of championship teams. But to win all three, if that happens Sunday night against the Indiana Pacers, is something that may only happen once. And you can pencil Gilgeous-Alexander in as Canadian athlete of the year if all this goes his way … Mark Walter, soon to own controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, is already the majority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the owner of the Professional Women's Hockey League. The league championship trophy is actually called the Walter Cup … As big as Shohei Ohtani may be to American sports and as a large a figure as Patrick Mahomes may be, Caitlin Clark may well be the most significant sporting figure, not necessarily the richest, in North American sports . When she plays, WNBA television audiences are huge. When she doesn't play, and she was injured recently, audiences are tiny. No single athlete moves the needle at this time the way Clark does, and watching her play, she brings a Gretzky-element to her sport. She finds players open that no one knows are there … One year, Mike Krushelnyski scored 88 points playing alongside Gretzky in Edmonton. The rest of his career, he averaged 48 points a game … The WNBA is damn foolish if it doesn't start protecting Clark better than it has through a season and a half … Just when you think you've seen everything in the CFL,. along comes Friday's Argo game. Trailing the entire night, the Argos tie the game in the final seconds against Saskatchewan with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. And they kick off and you expect overtime, not a 99-yard touchdown return to win the game for the Roughriders. Honestly, there is nothing in sports like the last three minutes of a CFL game. Even if you don't care who wins … This is the strangest Blue Jays season I can remember. The Jays spent $15 million on Max Scherzer, $92 million on Anthony Santander and inherited the oversized contract of Andres Gimenez — all of them the kinds of deals that could get a GM fired — and here are the Jays are in position to challenge for the American League East. Go figure. Article content Article content AND ANOTHER THING Article content The next time you hear Mitch Marner talk about his close friends Auston Matthews and William Nylander, understand this. One of the apparent reasons Marner wants out in Toronto is he truly believes he gets more heat for Leafs troubles than either Matthews or Nylander get. Can you say Mitchell Petty? … The NHL free agent class, Marner aside, is rather limited. The Maple Leafs' needs are many. It's easy to have doubt about where the Leafs are headed. But I'll go to a year ago on this: Leafs needed a goaltender and signed Anthony Stolarz for $2.5 million a year. They needed a lead defenceman and signed Tanev for $4.5 million a year. GM Brad Treliving spent $7 million for near all-stars in goal and on defence. That's value buying. Can he do it again? … If the Leafs have Matthews and Matthew Knies on one line, John Tavares and Nylander on another, what they still don't have is anything resembling the third line of the Panthers, assuming that Florida re-signs playoff star Bennett, which I'm assuming. I had been hearing since mid-winter in Florida that the Panthers would be re-signing Bennett but not likely defenceman Aaron Ekblad. I still believe that to be the economic case … Does the possibility of a Matthews-Knies-Marchand line excite you? I still wonder about Marchand. He looked rather lost at the 4 Nations tournament playing for Team Canada, then finished second in Conn Smythe voting in the playoffs. So which player will he be next year or in the future? If the Leafs commit to Marchand in free agency, it remains something of a gamble … What a nice pickup Jonathan Toews is for the Winnipeg Jets, no matter how much he has left. The Jets are a team that has to learn how to win when it matters. Toews is a professor on the subject … Who would have ever believed this would happen: The Edmonton football team, now foolishly known as the Elks, are the saddest in-stadium, ticket-selling team in Canadian football. We expect all that in Toronto. We should never expect that in Edmonton … The greatest teams in Canadian sports history (modern version): The five-time Grey Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos with Tom Wilkinson, Warren Moon and Dan Kepley; The Scotty Bowman-Guy Lafleur-Ken Dryden Montreal Canadians; The Pat Gillick-Cito Gaston-Roberto Alomar Toronto Blue Jays. The Glen Sather-Gretzky-Mark Messier Edmonton Oilers; The Masai Ujiri-Kawhi Leonard-Kyle Lowry Toronto Raptors. The Mike O'Shea-Zach Collaros Winnipeg Blue Bombers … Best way to win a Stanley Cup. Fire Dale Tallon. All Tallon left behind when he was let go by the Panthers as general manager: Barkov, Bobrovsky, Ekblad, Lundell, Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar (traded for Tkachuk) and Spencer Knight (traded for Seth Jones Jr.). When he was fired by the Blackhawks, all he left behind was Keith, Toews, Patrick Kane — three Hall of Famers — Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook, Nic Hjalmarsson and several other quality players … Happy birthday to Paul Beeston (80), Scottie Scheffler (29), Josh Naylor (28), Tyler O'Neill (30), Danny Green (38), Dustin Johnson (41), Clyde Drexler (63), Richard Jefferson (45), Kurt Warner (54), Ron Low (75) and Bob Bourne (71) … And hey, whatever became of Ilya Bryzgalov?

Ottawa Citizen

2 hours ago

Ottawa Citizen

SIMMONS SAYS: The Florida Panthers are one of hockey's greatest teams

Article content HEAR AND THERE Article content The 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame Class will be introduced on Tuesday. So here's my Hall of Fame class a few days early: I'll start with the long-overdue Alexander Mogilny and then add the three first-time eligible Carey Price, Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton. And apologies to Duncan Keith, who deserves first-ballot Hall of Fame entry but there's only room for four players … My Builder, who has been passed over for far too long, is women's hockey executive Fran Rider. And my choice from the women's side as a player, Jennifer Botterill, who also should have been added by now …. So how exactly did lower taxes in Florida help GM Zito trade for Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, Bennett, Seth Jones, Brad Marchand and Brandon Montour? Anybody anywhere do better trading than that? And how did lower tax rates in Florida help the Lightning draft Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point over a short period of time? Do they have an accountant as their chief scout? By the way, the Dallas Stars have been in a state without taxes long before the NHL went to a salary cap. They have won the Stanley Cup only once — and that came on an illegal goal in 1999. One more thing: Nashville has won no Stanley Cups in 26 years in business and might be the best place to live in America. How have the tax laws helped the Predators, who had a Hall of Fame general manager in David Poile? … The last three teams to win back-to-back Stanley Cups had terrific third lines: Florida had Anton Lundell centring Eetu Luostarinen and Marchand; Tampa had Yanni Gourde centring Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow; And before that, Pittsburgh had Nick Bonino centring Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin. The Lundell-Luostarinen-Marchand line finished these playoffs with 57 points. The HBK line had 56 in 2016 … The best defensive defencemen in hockey: 1. Jaccob Slavin of Carolina; 2. Gustav Forsling of Florida; 3. Chris Tanev of Toronto … How great is the combination of Barkov and Forsling on the Panthers? Well, add this up: McDavid had just four even-strength points in the Stanley Cup final and was a minus-7. Last year, he had eight even-strength points and was plus-5 … Washington's Brian MacLellan did not get nominated for the Jim Gregory Award as general manager of the year for one simple reason. He wasn't the general manager of the Capitals this season. Chris Patrick was. But MacLellan was GM last June and early July when the Capitals made eight roster changes to vault them into a first-place season. If there was a GM of the year award for someone no longer a GM, it would go to MacLellan. Article content Article content SCENE AND HEARD Article content Sunday night is Game 7 of the NBA Finals that will not end. And possibly it willl be history in the making. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could become the first Canadian basketball player to win the MVP, the championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and win the Finals MVP all in the same year. Steve Nash has won MVPs but never won a title. Other Canadians, most notably Jamal Murray and Andrew Wiggins, have been significant parts of championship teams. But to win all three, if that happens Sunday night against the Indiana Pacers, is something that may only happen once. And you can pencil Gilgeous-Alexander in as Canadian athlete of the year if all this goes his way … Mark Walter, soon to own controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, is already the majority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the owner of the Professional Women's Hockey League. The league championship trophy is actually called the Walter Cup … As big as Shohei Ohtani may be to American sports and as a large a figure as Patrick Mahomes may be, Caitlin Clark may well be the most significant sporting figure, not necessarily the richest, in North American sports . When she plays, WNBA television audiences are huge. When she doesn't play, and she was injured recently, audiences are tiny. No single athlete moves the needle at this time the way Clark does, and watching her play, she brings a Gretzky-element to her sport. She finds players open that no one knows are there … One year, Mike Krushelnyski scored 88 points playing alongside Gretzky in Edmonton. The rest of his career, he averaged 48 points a game … The WNBA is damn foolish if it doesn't start protecting Clark better than it has through a season and a half … Just when you think you've seen everything in the CFL,. along comes Friday's Argo game. Trailing the entire night, the Argos tie the game in the final seconds against Saskatchewan with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. And they kick off and you expect overtime, not a 99-yard touchdown return to win the game for the Roughriders. Honestly, there is nothing in sports like the last three minutes of a CFL game. Even if you don't care who wins … This is the strangest Blue Jays season I can remember. The Jays spent $15 million on Max Scherzer, $92 million on Anthony Santander and inherited the oversized contract of Andres Gimenez — all of them the kinds of deals that could get a GM fired — and here are the Jays are in position to challenge for the American League East. Go figure. Article content Article content AND ANOTHER THING Article content The next time you hear Mitch Marner talk about his close friends Auston Matthews and William Nylander, understand this. One of the apparent reasons Marner wants out in Toronto is he truly believes he gets more heat for Leafs troubles than either Matthews or Nylander get. Can you say Mitchell Petty? … The NHL free agent class, Marner aside, is rather limited. The Maple Leafs' needs are many. It's easy to have doubt about where the Leafs are headed. But I'll go to a year ago on this: Leafs needed a goaltender and signed Anthony Stolarz for $2.5 million a year. They needed a lead defenceman and signed Tanev for $4.5 million a year. GM Brad Treliving spent $7 million for near all-stars in goal and on defence. That's value buying. Can he do it again? … If the Leafs have Matthews and Matthew Knies on one line, John Tavares and Nylander on another, what they still don't have is anything resembling the third line of the Panthers, assuming that Florida re-signs playoff star Bennett, which I'm assuming. I had been hearing since mid-winter in Florida that the Panthers would be re-signing Bennett but not likely defenceman Aaron Ekblad. I still believe that to be the economic case … Does the possibility of a Matthews-Knies-Marchand line excite you? I still wonder about Marchand. He looked rather lost at the 4 Nations tournament playing for Team Canada, then finished second in Conn Smythe voting in the playoffs. So which player will he be next year or in the future? If the Leafs commit to Marchand in free agency, it remains something of a gamble … What a nice pickup Jonathan Toews is for the Winnipeg Jets, no matter how much he has left. The Jets are a team that has to learn how to win when it matters. Toews is a professor on the subject … Who would have ever believed this would happen: The Edmonton football team, now foolishly known as the Elks, are the saddest in-stadium, ticket-selling team in Canadian football. We expect all that in Toronto. We should never expect that in Edmonton … The greatest teams in Canadian sports history (modern version): The five-time Grey Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos with Tom Wilkinson, Warren Moon and Dan Kepley; The Scotty Bowman-Guy Lafleur-Ken Dryden Montreal Canadians; The Pat Gillick-Cito Gaston-Roberto Alomar Toronto Blue Jays. The Glen Sather-Gretzky-Mark Messier Edmonton Oilers; The Masai Ujiri-Kawhi Leonard-Kyle Lowry Toronto Raptors. The Mike O'Shea-Zach Collaros Winnipeg Blue Bombers … Best way to win a Stanley Cup. Fire Dale Tallon. All Tallon left behind when he was let go by the Panthers as general manager: Barkov, Bobrovsky, Ekblad, Lundell, Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar (traded for Tkachuk) and Spencer Knight (traded for Seth Jones Jr.). When he was fired by the Blackhawks, all he left behind was Keith, Toews, Patrick Kane — three Hall of Famers — Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook, Nic Hjalmarsson and several other quality players … Happy birthday to Paul Beeston (80), Scottie Scheffler (29), Josh Naylor (28), Tyler O'Neill (30), Danny Green (38), Dustin Johnson (41), Clyde Drexler (63), Richard Jefferson (45), Kurt Warner (54), Ron Low (75) and Bob Bourne (71) … And hey, whatever became of Ilya Bryzgalov?

Honzek to play for Slovakia at World Championships

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Top NHL draft prospect Schaefer honors late-mother in not letting personal tragedies define him

SIMMONS SAYS: The Florida Panthers are one of hockey's greatest teams

SIMMONS SAYS: The Florida Panthers are one of hockey's greatest teams

Honzek to play for Slovakia at World Championships

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Top NHL draft prospect Schaefer honors late-mother in not letting personal tragedies define him

SIMMONS SAYS: The Florida Panthers are one of hockey's greatest teams

SIMMONS SAYS: The Florida Panthers are one of hockey's greatest teams

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