Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer about to celebrate first American Thanksgiving with Matt Martin's family
Denise Fogarty of Mineola and her son Andrew Fogarty pose for a photo with retired Islander Matt Martin at a holiday toy drive at Bob’s Discount Furniture in Carle Place on Friday. Credit: Howard Simmons
Matthew Schaefer is only a few days away from his first American Thanksgiving.
It will be the latest fun moment in the Martin household for the Islanders’ 18-year-old star rookie defenseman. He has been living with Matt Martin — the longtime Islanders fourth-liner and now a special assistant to general manager Mathieu Darche — Sydney Esiason Martin, Martin’s wife, who is the daughter of Boomer Esiason, and their four young children, each 5 or younger.
Martin, who had a similar Thanksgiving experience as a young Canadian playing for the Islanders, has prepared the rookie for what to expect.
“My mother-in-law [Cheryl Esiason] does quite a Thanksgiving feast, and we’re going to host it at my house,” Martin told Newsday on Friday afternoon at the Islanders’ holiday toy drive at Bob’s Discount Furniture in Carle Place. “But she’ll be there cooking, and she does an amazing job with it.
“So he’s going to get to experience American Thanksgiving for the first time, much like I did, and it’s a pretty big deal.”
As for the dynamic at the table?
“Well, he certainly likes his food. I can say that,” said Martin, who signed autographs and took pictures with the fans who donated toys on Friday. “So I would imagine he’s going to be going for seconds and thirds and fourths because she does a pretty amazing job with the food. And there’ll be a lot of leftovers in our house for the next few days, too.
“So I think we play the next day, the afternoon, so he might have to control his intake a little bit. But after that game, he’ll get plenty more in.”
The Islanders (12-7-2) wrapped up a 6-1-0 road trip Thursday night with a 5-0 win in Detroit, and Schaefer was away from the Martin family for more than a week. When the Martin kids saw him Friday morning, they were ecstatic.
“Honestly, he’s such a good kid,” Martin said of the Islanders’ No. 1 overall draft pick. “He interacts with my kids a lot. For the most part, it is pretty respectful around the house. We have a big brother-little brother relationship and we’ve had a lot of fun with it.
“He’s been on the road for the last little while, so the kids were excited to see him today. It’s been a lot of fun, not only for myself but for my children. I’m just glad he’s comfortable, and obviously an extremely good player playing good hockey.”
Sydney Esiason Martin went on “Boomer & Gio,” her father’s WFAN radio show, last month to talk about Schaefer living with the family. She mentioned that Schaefer raided Martin’s closet.
“So this morning he came down in a Gucci T-shirt and a Todd Snyder jacket with his cargo pants, and I was like, ‘Did you just walk into his closet?’ ” she said on Oct. 22. “He was like, ‘Yeah, you like the fit?’ I was like, ‘Yeah. I don’t even think I’ve ever seen Matt wear that shirt, so I think it’s yours now.’ ”
Martin confirmed that was the case.
“That is true,” he said. “He just came back from a 10-day road trip, so my closet was pretty well raided. I actually had an event with Boomer that I had to go to, and all my nice sweaters were gone. All my nice clothing was out in Vegas and Utah. So I just grabbed some other things together for me to wear something. So he’s definitely comfortable walking through my house and in my closet, which is a good thing and a bad thing.
“He’s a good kid. He looks good in my clothing, so he can wear it.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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