Tom and Mike, who have been good friends for years as their sons have been teammates for nine seasons, provided a veteran presence on the trip and welcomed some of the newer faces.
“A dad’s trip is an opportunity to meet the other fathers,” said Mike Barzal. “Obviously our sons play on the team and each year there seems to be new ones, which is always nice to see. Talk about our sons’ minor hockey days and get to know them on a personal level. It’s exciting for all the fathers.”
Anthony Duclair brought his uncle, Fauster Verdier, who attended a game at UBS Arena for the very first time on Thursday before the trip shifted to the Sunshine State. The team flew down to Florida on Friday afternoon, where the large group got to bond over dinner before the weekend slate of back-to-back games.
“Meeting the other families, it was an amazing experience with the players’ fathers,” Fauster said. “We had fun together, we shared experiences, it was a very good experience.”
Todd Schaefer and Patrick Ritchie are sharing the experience of getting to watch their sons’ rookie seasons in the NHL, and they actually knew each other prior to Matthew and Cal’s Islanders days. Both represented Team Canada at the 2025 World Juniors, but going back even further, Matthew’s Schaefer late mother, Jennifer, was coworkers with Cal Ritchie’s father Patrick.
“It’s a small world, they had that connection through work and then Cal and I went on to play in the World Juniors together,” Matthew Schaefer said.
Todd Schaefer got to spend some early quality time with Matthew prior to the trip, as he’s been staying on Long Island for the past two weeks. Schaefer is living with Matt Martin and his family, so Todd is getting the chance to get to know his son’s home away from home.
“He’ll come over and we’ll play cards and stuff like that,” Matthew Schaefer said. “Marty loves him.”