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Ken Peroff tapped the other end of the line before answering the question.

Erie’s assistant coach had to know it was coming. Still, he gave the impression that he wanted to gather his thoughts to provide a thoughtful answer when asked what he had learned about Matthew Schaefer over the past year.

“How much he loves the game,” Peroff said after a pause. “I think he probably found hockey to be a little bit of a safe place for him. Once you’re on the ice and, you know, that puck is flying around and you’re out there and you’re in a game, it’s good for him to kind of take his mind off of the things that might have been going on on the ice. ice.”

The question came because the young Ontario Hockey League defenseman was not spared by fate last season. Not a little.

His mother, Jennifer, died last February at the age of 56 from breast cancer after a two-year battle with the disease. That tragic loss happened three months after his mother, Emily Matson, died by suicide.

That would be a lot emotionally for anyone, especially a 16 year old. But Schaefer found the strength to quickly get back on the ice, just two weeks after his mother died.

“I obviously miss her so much,” Schaefer told LNH.com. “She was definitely one of the strongest people I know because she had to go through so much. And of course you never want to see your mother experience that. But I know she will be here with me every day, no matter what I do. She is always by my side with her strength. She is a tough woman.”

That could partly explain why, despite everything he’s been through, Schaefer has managed to stay on track and continue his progress to becoming one of the most followed players for the 2025 NHL Draft. His name is mentioned more and more when the No. 1 pick is discussed.

He is also one of 33 players invited this week to Canada’s selection camp in Ottawa for the IIHF World Junior Championship, a rare opportunity for a 17-year-old player. And he has a good chance of making the final selection there.

But talking to Schaefer, you wouldn’t know he’s so coveted by NHL teams. The young man is as humble as they come, and the maturity he so painfully acquired through the tragic events he faced can be felt a mile away.

“When you look at Matthew Schaefer, you understand some of the hardships he has gone through over the years,” Peroff said. “You understand the person and the personality he has, and how comfortable he is in his own skin. And just the support system that he has and that he’s created just by being a good person to his peers.

“He’s such a good teammate and I think whenever he needed his teammates, they were there for him. His family is very close. I know he’s very close to his brother, he’s very close with his father. They are both always there for him.”

Clearly, Schaefer doesn’t have to sell himself when NHL executives ask him how he responds to adversity. Inspired by his mother, he has shown enormous strength in recent months to get back on track.

Even when life threw him another curveball.

After helping Canada win gold at the U-18 World Championship this spring and the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup last summer, he was struck down by mononucleosis. He missed the first nine games of the season, but picked up where he left off when he recovered and was back on the ice.

“Yes, honestly, I wanted to come back,” Schaefer said. “Just watching matches made me itch. Obviously it’s hard to miss games in the beginning, but I’d rather come back to 110 percent than not be so healthy. But I was definitely eager to come back and play. So when I came back, I definitely had a little jump in my game.

And it showed. Once it was time to leave for Ottawa for the Canadian selection camp, he already had 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 17 games, five more points than he had in 56 games last season.

“He’s at a point now where he could be the best player on the ice every night,” Peroff said. “You know his real unique skill is his ability to drive the play, starting from his own zone, in the neutral zone, beating guys on the ice and creating numerical advantages on the ice in rushing situations. But the subtleties and nuances of the way he defends are probably underestimated, and he is quite a complete player.

“So every time he puts himself in those situations, on big stages, he’s been able to perform. And we have a lot of confidence here, from what we’re seeing from game to game in Erie. So we see no reason why this cannot continue.”

If he makes the Canadian team and participates in the traditional holiday tournament, Schaefer will spend his first Christmas without his mother, surrounded, in a hockey environment, by his family and his teammates.

And that would probably mean the world to him right now.