[{"id":297620,"date":"2026-04-20T14:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/?p=297620"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:16:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:16:03","slug":"67s-ryder-fetterolf-named-ohl-rookie-of-the-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/article\/67s-ryder-fetterolf-named-ohl-rookie-of-the-week-4","title":{"rendered":"67’s’ Ryder Fetterolf named OHL Rookie of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO –\u00a0<\/strong>The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) today announced that 2026 NHL Draft eligible goaltender Ryder Fetterolf<\/a> of the Ottawa 67’s is the OHL Rookie of the Week, going 1-2 with a 2.70 goals-against average and .924 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Fetterolf’s 67’s saw their playoff run come to an end, but the OHL Goaltender of the Year did not disappoint, making 97 saves over three games to give the Barber Poles a chance against the Barrie Colts. Fetterolf made 36 saves in a 5-2 Game 3 victory on Tuesday, turned aside 40 shots as the 67’s lost 3-2 in Game 4 and made 21 saves in Game 5 as Ottawa’s season came to an end in a 4-1 final.<\/p>\n

An 18-year-old from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, Fetterolf claimed the Jim Rutherford Trophy as OHL Goaltender of the Year, becoming the first rookie in his first two seasons of eligibility to do so in OHL history. He played to a record of 29-9-2-1 with a franchise record 2.07 goals-against average and league-leading .923 save percentage, posting an OHL rookie record six shutouts. In the playoffs, Fetterolf was 5-4 with a 3.04 goals-against average and .900 save percentage over nine games. He is listed as the OHL’s top NHL Draft eligible netminder on NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings released last week, coming in at 11th in North America.<\/p>\n

2025-26 OHL Rookie of the Week \u2013 Playoffs<\/strong>
\nMar. 23-29: Caleb Malhotra (Brantford Bulldogs)
\nMar. 30-Apr. 5: John McLaughlin (Windsor Spitfires)
\nApr. 6-12: Caleb Malhotra (Brantford Bulldogs)
\nApr. 13-19: Ryder Fetterolf (Ottawa 67’s)<\/p>\n

2025-26 OHL Rookie of the Week \u2013 Regular Season
\n<\/strong>Sept. 18-21: Thomas Vandenberg (Ottawa 67\u2019s)
\nSept. 22-28: Caleb Malhotra (Brantford Bulldogs)
\nSept. 29-Oct. 5: Nikita Klepov (Saginaw Spirit)
\nOct. 6-12: Jaxon Cover (London Knights)
\nOct. 13-19: Ryder Cali (North Bay Battalion)
\nOct. 20-26: Jaakko Wycisk (Guelph Storm)
\nOct. 27-Nov. 2: Ryder Fetterolf (Ottawa 67\u2019s)
\nNov. 3-9: Easton Walos (Sarnia Sting)
\nNov. 10-16: Ryder Fetterolf (Ottawa 67\u2019s)
\nNov. 17-23: Caleb Malhotra (Brantford Bulldogs)
\nNov. 24-30: Levi Harper (Saginaw Spirit)
\nDec. 1-7: Caleb Malhotra (Brantford Bulldogs)
\nDec. 8-14: Robin Kuzma (Kingston Frontenacs
\nDec. 15-21: Caleb Mitchell (London Knights)
\nDec. 28-Jan. 4: Nikita Klepov (Saginaw Spirit)
\nJan. 5-11: Charlie Murata (Flint Firebirds)
\nJan. 12-18: Nikita Klepov (Saginaw Spirit)
\nJan. 19-25: Ryerson Edgar (Niagara IceDogs)
\nJan. 26-Feb. 1: Keaton Ardagh (Brampton Steelheads)
\nFeb. 2-8: Kale Osipenko (Sarnia Sting)
\nFeb. 9-15: Nikita Klepov (Saginaw Spirit)
\nFeb. 16-22: Joe Salandra (Barrie Colts)
\nFeb. 23-Mar. 1: Evgeny Dubrovtsev (North Bay Battalion)
\nMar. 2-8: Nolan Snyder (Kingston Frontenacs)
\nMar. 9-15: Ryder Fetterolf (Ottawa 67\u2019s)
\nMar. 16-22: Cam Warren (North Bay Battalion)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NHL Draft eligible goaltender Ryder Fetterolf of the Ottawa 67’s is the OHL Rookie of the Week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":297625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[{"term_id":3361,"name":"Ryder Fetterolf","slug":"ryder-fetterolf","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3361,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":38,"filter":"raw","term_order":"348"},{"term_id":3162,"name":"Rookie of the Week","slug":"rookie-of-the-week","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3162,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":62,"filter":"raw","term_order":"542"},{"term_id":2673,"name":"OHL News","slug":"ohl-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2689,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3637,"filter":"raw","term_order":"2904"},{"term_id":90,"name":"Ottawa 67's","slug":"ottawa-67s","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":90,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1616,"filter":"raw","term_order":"2947"}],"class_list":["post-297620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-ryder-fetterolf","tag-rookie-of-the-week","tag-ohl-news","tag-ottawa-67s","category-186","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/04\/20131457\/16_9-Rookie-OF-THE-WEEK-copy-1.jpg",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":297590,"date":"2026-04-20T10:54:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/?p=297590"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:54:28","slug":"from-erie-to-elite-how-matthew-schaefer-took-the-nhl-by-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl\/article\/from-erie-to-elite-how-matthew-schaefer-took-the-nhl-by-storm","title":{"rendered":"From Erie to Elite: How Matthew Schaefer Took the NHL by Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are rookie seasons, and then there is what Matthew Schaefer accomplished this past year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The New York Islanders defenceman, at just 18 years old, spent the 2025-26 season rewriting NHL record books that had stood for decades. But to appreciate just how extraordinary his first professional campaign was, you have to rewind the tape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Schaefer’s path to stardom began in April 2023, when the Erie Otters selected him first overall in the OHL Priority Selection, making him just the third player in franchise history to carry that distinction, following Ryan O’Reilly and Connor McDavid. The Stoney Creek product was also the first defenceman ever taken first overall by the Otters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his 2023-24 rookie OHL season, Schaefer suited up for 56 games on Erie’s blue line, posting 17 points (3-14\u201317). His poise, skating, and play-driving ability earned him a spot on the OHL All-Rookie First Team, and he capped the year by captaining Team Canada White to gold at the 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge before adding another gold with Canada’s Under-18 team the following summer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Entering the 2024-25 season, Schaefer was already a highly touted prospect for the upcoming NHL Draft, and he started the year proving exactly why. He posted 22 points (7-15\u201322) in just 17 games with the Otters, a pace of more than a point per game from the back end. He was then chosen to represent Canada at the 2025 World Junior Championship, which ended in a way that nobody expected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the team’s round-robin upset loss to Latvia, Schaefer suffered a broken collarbone, an injury that ended his tournament and, ultimately, his OHL season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most prospects would have seen their draft stock slip, but Schaefer’s never wavered. When June rolled around, the New York Islanders made him the first-overall pick, betting on the player they had seen and trusting that the skill set he’d flashed in Erie would translate to the game’s highest level.<\/span><\/p>\n

And while most had expected him to do fairly well in his first season, Schaefer ended up defying every reasonable expectation. He signed an entry-level contract with the Islanders in August and made his debut on October 9, 2025, where he registered his first NHL point. The next game, he scored his first NHL goal, becoming the second-youngest defenceman in league history to do so, and he never looked back. By season’s end, Schaefer led all NHL rookies in virtually every category that mattered for a defenceman.<\/span><\/p>\n

His 23 goals tied Hall of Famer Brian Leetch’s NHL record for goals by a rookie defenceman, a mark that had stood since 1988-89. His 36 assists and 59 points were the most ever by an 18-year-old defenceman in NHL history, breaking Phil Housley’s 43-year-old record of 57 points set in 1982-83. Schaefer also led the Islanders with eight power-play goals, 18 power-play points, a plus-13 rating and an average of 24:41 of ice time per game, while ranking second on the team with 221 shots on goal and third with 111 blocked shots.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along the way, he became the youngest defenceman in NHL history to record a multi-goal game, the youngest player in NHL history to score an overtime goal, and, at just 18 years and 195 days, became the youngest defenceman ever to reach 50 career points. He also broke the long-standing Islanders franchise record for goals by a rookie defenceman, previously held by Hall of Fame legend and OHL alumnus Denis Potvin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Schaefer was named NHL Rookie of the Month in both October and December, and he enters the awards calendar as a front-runner for the Calder Trophy.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s crazy to think that I’d be playing in the NHL this year,” Schaefer said. “I was going to NHL games as a fan last year, up top in the nosebleeds with my brother and parents. It’s a dream come true. I can’t thank this organization enough, and all my teammates, staff and everyone. It was an amazing year. I got to learn so much.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Schaefer’s journey has also been shaped by personal loss. His mother, Jennifer, passed away from breast cancer in February of 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I wish my mom could be here too,” Schaefer said. “I’d love to see her reaction with the fans. I wish she could be at the games, and I could give her a big hug after. At the end of the day, she’s always with us in spirit. My dad, my brother and I looked up to my mom so much, and she was the backbone of our family, the strongest person in our family, and the boss, for sure. She’s someone that you always think about and will never get off your mind.”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What makes Schaefer’s season so remarkable isn’t just the records. It’s the road he travelled to get here. A draft year ended with a broken bone on the coveted World Junior stage and just 73 OHL games under his belt to prepare for the best league in the world. What he managed to do in spite of it all was historic. Schaefer completely rewrote the book on what an 18-year-old defenceman can do in his first NHL season, and more excitingly, his ceiling has no end in sight.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n