Jamie Schaafsma: The New Captain America

When you’re born and raised in small town Ontario, and have represented the Netherlands internationally, the moniker “Captain America” might not fit.

That is unless you’re Blenheim’s Jamie Schaafsma, who has had the honour of captaining the ECHL’s Allen Americans this season.

“It is a great honor to be chosen as captain of the Americans and I am proud to be the captain of such a great group of guys and a talented hockey team,” said Schaafsma, who is now in his ninth season of professional hockey.

Schaafsma joined the Allen Americans in 2013 when the team was still part of the Central Hockey League. Since then, his role with the team, and community, which is a Northern suburb of Dallas, Texas, has grown exponentially.

“On the ice I just try to go out and lead by example,” says Schaafsma, who was the CHL’s playoff MVP last season while leading Allen to a championship.

“Work hard, finish hits, and do all the little things that add up and help the team win. On ice it’s pretty much business as usual for me, other than I am forced to talk to referees quite often,” added Schaafsma as his new responsibilities as captain in the team’s first season after moving to the ECHL.

“Off ice it’s just making sure our group stays focused and that we grow together as a group, so everyone wants to win for each other and have one another’s back.”

For Schaafsma, he not only has the backs of his teammates, he’s also supporting his entire community, as he was one of four Allen American players to participate in an internship with the Allen Fire Department this season.

“Right now I’m definitely starting to work toward a career after hockey,” explained Schaafsma, who also participated in a month long fire and emergency services course in Toronto last summer with close to 20 other minor professional hockey players.

”I’ve been working towards a career in Firefighting for the last year and a half.”

Giving back to the community of Allen, both on and off the ice has become the norm for the Americans captain, which comes natural to Schaafsma when thinking about the city and team he loves.

“Allen is a great place to play hockey and the organization is committed to winning,” says Schaafsma.

“Aside from hockey, Allen is a great place to live for many reasons. My family and I have some great friends here and it has been a pleasure living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There is so much to do and the people here have really gone out of their way to take care of us.”

While he’s still busy taking care of his teammates, in search of a Kelly Cup title in the ECHL, Schaafsma knows a time will come when his role as “Captain America” will be done, and he’ll have to hang up his skates. For now however, it’s all hockey, and Schaafsma, who turned 32 in February, is soaking up every second of his on ice experience.

“Right now I’m just trying to keep enjoying playing the game,” says Schaafsma.

“Eventually my family and I will have some tough decisions to make in what we will do when my playing days come to an end.”

“You can’t play forever but it’s definitely going to be hard to walk away from playing the game. It’s a great lifestyle and an amazing career that my family and I really enjoy.”