There aren’t a lot of 18-year-old defencemen playing in the NHL. Just one, in fact. It’s a tough position to learn, the game is so fast and the other guys in the league are full-grown men with adult strength and years of experience.

Matthew Schaefer’s dad, Todd, and his brother, Johnny, understand this. So as they waited for him to skate out onto the ice to make his NHL debut a couple months ago — just 34 days after he became old enough to vote — they were feeling the weight of the moment.

“(We) were very, very nervous,” Johnny says.

No need.

The Hamilton kid collected an assist and looked completely at home. Then two nights later in the New York Islanders’ home opener, he scored his first NHL goal . Against Washington’s Logan Thompson, who’d been Johnny’s teammate at Brock Universit

See Full Page