Schwartz family savors magical season
Rick and Carol Schwartz were there on the night of June 12, watching along with their older son Rylan inside TD Garden. Out on the Boston ice, Jaden Schwartz grabbed the Stanley Cup, and flush with a jubilation that filled his St. Louis Blues teammates, No. 17 hoisted it high above his head.
No. 17 was his sister’s number at Yale. Mandi Schwartz’s jersey still hangs at her stall in the locker room at Ingalls Rink, a reminder not only of Mandi’s life but of the lives she continues to help save long after her 27month fight with leukemia ended.
“I was watching Jaden with the Stanley Cup and flashing back to the years when they were young kids,” Carol said from Regina on Friday night. “We’d watch the Stanley Cup Finals on television, and it would seem like something far, far away. Something that would never happen in your life time.
“So watching him was like a dream. It was very emotional. I was so happy for Jaden. So happy for his team, especially after the year they had. They were total underdogs that never stopped fighting.”
The Blues sat in last place in the NHL on Jan. 3, so who could blame mom and dad for planning an April trip to Hawaii. They watched the Blues’ first game of the playoffs against Winnipeg from the airport before returning home to Saskatchewan. Carol was able to get to Game 2 in Winnipeg and by the time the Blues had defeated the Bruins in Game 7 of the Finals two months later, not only had “Gloria” been played a thousand times, Jaden had finished second in NHL playoff goalscoring, tied for third in points and given the Schwartz family a hockey season they so richly deserved.
“I was quite emotional when they won,” Rick said. “Lots of tears. Lots of hugging. Lots of laughing. Lots of high fives. Lots of joy. Yeah, lots of joy.”
Members of the NHL champions are allowed to spend a day with the Stanley Cup. Schwartz and Tyler Bozak chose to share July 6 and the by the time the boys were finished you would have figured Regina was in Missouri.
The two first brought the Cup to Regina General Hospital to share with young patients.
“Let them see the Cup, let them touch the Cup,” Rick said. “A happy day for kids having a tough time. That was really special for Jaden.”
Schwartz and Bozak went to the Saskatchewan Legislative Building where Premier Scott Moe greeted them. A huge crowd awaited. They unfurled a team flag from the balcony. As “Gloria” by Laura Branigan blared, the Stanley Cup was brought out. Schwartz was one of the handful of players who went to watch the
EaglesBears NFL wildcard game at The Jacks NYB, a small club in South Philly on Jan. 6. One of the club’s members kept requesting to play “Gloria,” the Blues beat the Flyers the following day, one thing led to another and, voila, here was the theme song to a remarkable Stanley Cup run.
“After the first round of the playoffs, there were no Canadian teams left and we have three boys from Saskatchewan on the Blues,” Rick said. “Basically, the province adopted the Blues as their team. It was exciting. And the crowd July 6, wow.”
After a private function with the families, they all went over to the Saskatchewan Roughriders CFL game at Mosaic Stadium.
“We were touched that Brayden Schenn joined us,” Carol said. “He surprised Jaden and Tyler.”
First television timeout, the three Saskatchewan Blues walked onto the field with the Stanley Cup. They took off their Blues seaters. Underneath were Roughriders jersey.
“Televised on TSN, 30,000 fans,” Rick said. “Pretty cool thing for the people of Saskatchewan.”
There will be another event in Saskatchewan. This one in Saskatoon on Aug. 2425, the charity Run for Mandi to raise awareness for Canada’s National Stem Cell Registry. To understand the great joy of this season one must also understand the great pain of the Schwartz family and their unbending will along with supporters stretching from New Haven to Western Canada to save lives in Mandi’s name.
Mandi thought it was anemia during the first semester of her junior year at Yale. It wasn’t. She was found to have acute myeloid leukemia on Dec. 9, 2008. Rick’s birthday. Five rounds of chemo followed. Six bone marrow biopsies. Three spinal taps. Countless blood transfusions. Mandi returned to Yale practices in January 2010, a comeback at once inspiring and remarkable yet a precursor of tragedy. The cancer returned in April. Without a bone marrow match, there would be a stem cell transplant from donated umbilical cord blood. In December, the cancer returned again.
On April 1, 2011, Rick found Mandi working on the stationary bike at their home. For Mandi, it was never too late to stay in shape and beat an awful disease.
“Giving it her best,” her dad said. “A few more pedals, a few more miles.”
Within 48 hours Mandi was gone at age 23.
“Rylan and Jaden both know the effort she put in to all her sports and her schoolwork,” Rick said. “She had worked extra hard to get to Yale. They watched what she did every single day to make herself better. That drove them. I know for a fact that while she idolized those two, it was more that those two idolized her. And until the day she passed away she never gave up.”
“Mandi is still a role model for Jaden,” Carol said. “We’re still emotional with her loss. At times, he tends to be a little more protected when it comes to speaking about Mandi, but when he won the Stanley Cup his emotions showed. He looks to her for motivation, what she went through and knows it isn’t anything compared to what she did. He finds his way.”
Former Yale captain Aleca Hughes founded the Mandi Schwartz Foundation. Bray Ketchum, the general manager of the NHWL Connecticut Whale, is on the foundation board. The two were Mandi’s Yale linemates and they would sit with Rick for Game 2 of the Cup Finals. The two were back at TD Garden for Game 7.
Yale and the Blues are intertwined on one front now, holding annual Be the Match Registry drives in Mandi’s name. Fans swab their cheeks and sign up for the international bone marrow registry. Five seconds to make a difference. At last count, Rick said, more than 7,500 people have swabbed because of Mandi and they have saved 59 lives. Football, field hockey, soccer, hockey, Yale’s athletic programs have added thousands to the entry. Former Yale football player John Oppenheimer had a match years ago. This spring, lacrosse midfielder Brian Tevlin gave up a piece of his season when a match was found. Tevlin had registered in high school when his best friend’s mom was fighting leukemia.
“An honorable and amazing thing what he did,” Rick said.
Carol and Rick were at Ingalls in 2014 when the Blues, on a New York trip, stopped to practice, sign autographs and stay for a women’s game in support of Mandi’s cause. Carol and Rick returned a few years later during one of Yale’s marrow drives.
“What Yale has done and continues to do touches our heart,” Carol said. “It wasn’t a one or twoyear thing. Their best effort every year, it means so much to us.”
Michael Hellrich, aware of Mandi’s story, decided to register at a Blues game in 2013, went off an enjoyed the night and didn’t hear back for four years. A match was found in 2017. His bone marrow would save the life of a young Alabama woman, Regan Brown. Donors are not allowed to meet recipients for a year. A meeting was arranged at a game on Jan. 5. Rick and Carol sat with the two.
“Jaden got to meet Michael and Regan after the game it was awesome,” Rick said.
Something magical happened to the lastplace Blues season after that night.
“They’re coming up for (the Run for Mandi) in a few weeks,” he said. That will be pretty cool.”
Rick allows himself a small laugh.
“I think Regan thinks she’s coming into winter,” he said. “She asked what she should wear. I said it’s August, a light jacket will do.”
Yes, it’s a good summer for the Blues boys of Saskatchewan. jeff.jacobs @hearstmediact.com; @jeffjacobs123