Matthew Schaefer’s rookie year has already become the stuff of franchise history. The Islanders defenseman won the 2025-26 Calder Memorial Trophy on May 13, becoming the youngest winner in NHL history and the first unanimous Calder winner since Teemu Selanne after receiving all 198 first-place votes.
Matthew’s partner has also publicly acknowledged the 18-year old’s win and congratulated him on numerous social platforms and was also present during the studio with Schaefer’s other family members.
He finished the season with 23 goals, led rookies in ice time, and played all 82 games, a run that turned the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft into the league’s top first-year player.
The award came with a very personal moment, too. Schaefer was surprised on ABC’s “GMA3” by his father and brother, and he used the moment to reflect on how much his late mother meant to him.
Schaefer said, “My mom’s helped me and my family so much.” He later brought the Calder Trophy to Cohen Children’s Medical Center to help announce a family room named in honor of Jennifer Schaefer, who loss her life due to breast cancer in 2024.
Samantha Greene is building her own hockey story
Schaefer’s girlfriend, Samantha Greene, is making a name for herself in women’s hockey at the University of Prince Edward Island.
UPEI added Greene for the 2025-26 season, describing her as an assistant captain with the Brampton Canadettes U22 Elite and praising her “relentless work ethic,” toughness, and team-first mentality.
The school’s roster lists her as a forward, and UPEI’s commitment material placed her in the university’s psychology program.
Greene’s background gives the relationship a hockey-on-hockey feel rather than a celebrity angle. She born in 2007 in St. Catharines, Ontario, making her 19 years of age as of now.
The Brampton Canadettes profile also shows her as a forward from St. Catharines, which lines up with the kind of player UPEI wanted when it brought her in for the 2025-26 season.
She also appears to have been part of the public moment around Schaefer’s Calder night.
Newsday reported that Greene was among the people waiting at the studio with Schaefer’s father and brother when he learned he had won the trophy, which put her in the middle of one of the biggest nights of his young career.
That detail matters because it shows she is not just a name attached to a headline. She was there for the moment when Schaefer’s rookie season turned into a historic one.
The couple first announced their relationship more than a year ago.
A young couple with two hockey paths
The pairing works because both players are still building. Schaefer has gone from top draft pick to Calder winner in one season, and UPEI has Greene on a path of her own as a freshman forward joining a women’s hockey program that wanted a physical, committed player who could bring energy and grit.
UPEI’s own words made that clear when it said Greene plays “a rugged, physical game well beyond her size.”
Schaefer is already carrying the weight of a historic rookie season, but his off-ice life is tied to someone who understands the same sport from a different level and a different stage.
Greene is not just watching from the sidelines. She is trying to make her own mark at UPEI, balancing hockey and her studies while Schaefer settles into life as the NHL’s newest standard bearer among rookies.
For Schaefer, the future now looks even brighter after a season that already delivered the Calder Trophy, a family tribute, and a place in league history.
For Greene, the next chapter starts with UPEI and a fresh chance to prove why the Panthers wanted her in the first place. Together, they are at two different levels of hockey, but both are moving forward in their own lanes.
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