Image Courtesy of Cornell Athletics
Mike Schafer’86 (Left)
When the final goal seals a season, silence fills the rink just before the buzzer sounds. Suddenly, the feeling hits that the player has donned their jersey one last time. These colors have defined, inspired, and united them over the years.
This moment is special; it represents the way that a game that seems as natural as breathing, their sport, has managed to weave into their very being. Their alma mater will always hold a special place for them—often causing them to beam with great pride.
But, just as their playing days emerged, there is a chance they take the next step—becoming a coach. The opportunity to carry on the values they cherished as players has the potential to become magnified within their team.
Image Courtesy of Cornell Athletics
As Mike Schafer ‘86, the Jay R. Bloom ‘77 Head Coach of Men’s Ice Hockey, enters his thirtieth and final season with the Big Red, his impact on Cornell can be felt widely. The excitement building for this season not only reflects his contributions to the sport as a player or a coach, but also the deep bonds that he has fostered with players, staff, and fans alike.
Hailing from Durham, Ontario, hockey has always been a source of friendship and a part of Schafer’s life. During junior hockey, he played two years for Don McKee with the Guelph Holody Platers of the Provincial Jr. A. League. With his older brother Jerry playing college hockey at Northern Michigan, Schafer’s intent to follow in his brother’s footsteps became evident. Hockey was looked upon as a source of opportunity beyond just the ice.
Establishing the skills to play at the collegiate level, Schafer combined his brother’s example and his family background as a foundation for his development. Citing his father, Walter, as an example of strong work ethic, which ultimately translated on Schafer’s dedication to player development and his view on life. Coming from a blue-collar family with nine kids in a small town, an emphasis on the value of hard work, selflessness, and perseverance would become cemented into his outlook on every aspect of his future.
With Cornell as the goal, a brief reevaluation of the steps to make that into a reality would occur for an end decision to apply to CALS. Since Schafer left home in his teens to pursue hockey, to get to that point of applying required a focus on academics and his game—both vital in achieving the opportunity to play for the Big Red.
When speaking to the importance of character development through periods of reevaluation and hardship, Schafer explained, “We have a lot of athletes on our team that have gone through rejection. They have faced adversity and have overcome it. I look forward to coaching athletes who do not like being told no or that they cannot do something. They have a chip on their shoulder. I recruit in that way; those are the types of athletes that we look for.”
As a defenseman, he lettered all four years at Cornell and was a two-year captain, ending his collegiate career with an ECAC hockey championship as a senior. Schafer would graduate with a degree in Business Management and Marketing, and if you speak with him regarding his methodologies on coaching, a lot of the analogies he utilizes fall back on that business background.
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Upon graduation, Schafer stayed on the bench as an assistant coach for four seasons, first under Lou Reycroft and then under Brian McCutcheon ‘71. Leaving Cornell, Schafer would join Western Michigan as an assistant coach under Bill Wilkinson. The time between Cornell allowed Schafer to gain a new perspective from a different league and grow within a new environment. In explaining the value of continuously improving, Schafer stated, “As an athlete and a coach, you are always trying to do things differently to get better; you get evaluated on a weekend-by-weekend basis from September to April every year.”
Image Courtesy of Cornell Athletics
Image Courtesy of Western Michigan Athletics
1992-93 Western Michigan Men’s Ice Hockey Team Pictured
Schafer often refers to this mindset as “truly buying into the program.” He actively seeks this attitude in his players and hopes to cultivate each year a team that will embody this value—one that places the greater good above the individual and creates a work ethic that reflects more about them than any of the words of a reporter or the chatter on social media. This commitment fosters a culture where dedication and selflessness drive success.”
Former Big Red Captain Sam Malinski ‘23 spoke about his first meeting with Coach Schafer about the team’s culture, noting that Schafer spoke “with us as a team about being a good man. He spoke about helping people in need, treating people with respect, and remaining humble in your success. He leads by example and is an amazing role model for all of us.”
Speaking further on this cultivation of culture, Schafer highlighted that “every decision the team makes has to be for the betterment of our program and not just for the sake of the individual. When I first started out as a thirty-two-year-old, it was all about establishing habits of culture for success. Methods and the strength of our culture have changed from team to team, but a certain work ethic and commitment have always been central to that success: care for your teammates, Cornell Hockey, and the university. Establishing that mentality is important.”
Image Courtesy of Cornell Athletics
1995-96 Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey Team Pictured
Schafer’s actions are impactful, and the effect they have is evident in the way former Big Red Captain Colin Greening ‘10 spoke about the lengths that Coach Schafer went to show up for him: “When I was being inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame a few years ago [Induction: 2020], initially, Mike was not able to attend the banquet ceremony because of a previously scheduled recruiting trip. However, the night before the ceremony, Mike decided he was going to cancel the rest of his trip and drove all night to return to Ithaca for the ceremony.”
Over the course of twenty-nine years, the program’s standards have been reflected in the many teams that have flourished throughout Schafer’s tenure. This is an experience that both Schafer and his players explain is not something to be taken lightly. Schafer acknowledged the magnitude of being recruited: “I felt really fortunate to be chosen by that coach [Lou Reycroft] to come to Cornell because it changed my life. When a coach comes up after a game to see a player, it can really change their entire life. I feel that with our present athletes. They don’t know it yet, but when our assistant coaches go out, it will change their lives by coming to Cornell in so many different ways—their lifelong friendships, families, and future wives. This team, this culture, what we have cultivated here is really a family.”
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Malinski remarked that “it says a lot about the culture Schafe has built when you recognize how many players stayed through COVID. It shows that we were not just a team but really a family that would do anything for each other. That type of culture has led to the long-term success of Cornell Hockey and is something very special to be able to say that you were a part of. In a way, I am not sure if any other program in the country is able to match the culture that Schafe has built. I am very grateful to have played for Schafe, and I am not sure what my career would have looked like without him or his influence.”
Former Big Red Forward Riley Nash also noted the impact Schafer has had on his career: “I’m very grateful for my years at Cornell and the opportunity to play under Coach Schafer. He was able to push me out of my comfort zone and helped prepare me and my game for the professional level. At times, there were growing pains which, in hindsight, were crucial for me to enjoy the career I’ve been able to have.”
Image Courtesy of Cornell Athletics
The Cornell Hockey culture has been built around these relationships, commitment to one another, and the community. This is reflected in how they conduct themselves and the way the team speaks about one another. For Schafer, these friendships are central components of his life. The two years that Tony Eisenhut ‘88 overlapped with Schafer would turn into a friendship spanning over decades with memories made on the ice and through the professional development that Eisenhut does with players.
Recalling his years as a support player on the JV team, Eisenhut explained that “Schafer was someone who treated people with respect, regardless of who they were or their role on the team. That is just the sort of person that he is, and that is something he tries to convey to his players. He tries to push his players to recognize and look at their impact beyond just hockey.”
To instill the importance of their role within the community, the team does a community service project each year in the fall and spring. Eisenhut explained, “You never really hear about their community service; it is something that flies under the radar, but it is important to him [Schafer] and an important part of his program. Now, one project that the community might have heard of is our service trips to the Dominican Republic. For the last fourteen years, we have brought players, our families, and the coaching staff to have hands-on experience in giving back to a community and learning from others.”
Image Courtesy of Tony Eisenhut
The values Schafer instills and magnifies within his players and staff often resonate with them and are carried on throughout the rest of their lives, and those who have gone on to become coaches ultimately adopt into their programs as well.
Brent Brekke, Head Coach of St. Lawrence University’s Men’s Ice Hockey, has been coached by, coached with, and now coaches against Schafer. The two have developed a unique relationship which dates back to Schafer’s Western Michigan days, where Brekke played.
Brekke took the lessons from Schafer and applied them to his own coaching method, explaining that “a lot of the things that we hold true to our program I got from him. He never really changed, he runs his program with a high level of values and integrity. He has a high level of accountability for both his players and staff, and that is part of the process of winning championships. That is something that when you become a coach, you want to replicate, and you have to prepare yourself and your team to go up against an opponent with high skill. He has done it the right way by continually showing up to make the program better, and I have the utmost respect for him as a coach and a person. Schafer has been a mentor to me and really like a father-like figure in my life.”
Image Courtesy of Cornell Athletics
2024-24 Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey Team Pictured
At all levels, Schafer has influenced so many. He is an invaluable figure in the Cornell Hockey program. During those first couple of press conferences, after he was announced as the head coach for the 1995-96 season, he told media outlets about his beaming pride for Cornell Hockey. The goal was to revitalize Lynah and make the deep hockey tradition at Cornell proud. Entering the 2024-25 season, his last behind the bench, it is evident that he has done much more than what he had initially set out to do. He has cultivated a legacy that will permanently leave its mark on all who favor the Big Red. When Schafer takes center ice one last time, he finally has reached that final moment, and just then will Lynah realize that the end of the Schafer era has been witnessed.