SAINT PAUL, Minn. — As Ferris Bueller once said, “The question isn’t, ‘What are we going to do?’ The question is, ‘What aren’t we going to do?’ ”
The 1980s classic film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is known for its iconic quips as well as its adventurous and humorous spirit — similar to Michigan sophomore defenseman Seamus Casey.
A chef, fisherman, diver and hockey player, Casey lives a life full of color. One minute he’s grilling a steak with his older brothers. The next minute, he’s scoring a highlight-reel goal against Quinnipiac in the Frozen Four. He soaks up talents and experiences like a sponge, finding the fun in whatever task lies in front of him.
And the party seemingly follows him everywhere he goes. Casey has traveled around the world throughout his hockey career, creating countless memories along the way. All of such shenanigans officially kicked off in western Canada.
It seems strange for an American-born hockey player’s journey to start outside the United States, but as a Florida native, there weren’t many easily accessible rinks in his early years.
“A lot of people don’t know this,” Seamus’ father Steve Casey told The Michigan Daily. “But the first time he ever skated was in Canada in Whistler. We were up there skiing and he was obviously very young. He was three.”
It was a classic sight. Armed in a puffy red coat and a pair of mini skates, Seamus marched onto the ice for the first time. It’s hard to imagine that the smooth skater seen on the ice today once clung to someone else’s arm to maintain his balance.
Even with a slightly wobbly start, it didn’t take long before Seamus splashed into the hockey world. He rose through the ranks quickly, as he found a home on the Florida Alliance AAA team. Seamus took the hockey world by storm as he surprised and surpassed teams at tournaments across the country.
His success garnered plenty of national recognition along the way, prompting him to leave Florida at 12 years old to play for Compuware hockey program in Plymouth.
His talent and strong play on the ice certainly impressed head coach Matt West upon arrival. His sense of humor similarly stood out.
As the coach of young aspiring hockey players, West didn’t want them to control the aux cord. Who knows what the kids are listening to these days, right? As a result, he set up an iPod with plenty of clean tunes to blast in the locker room before games. It was a great idea in theory, but there was just one problem:
He left the iPod in the hands of Seamus Casey.
Seamus and co. took selfies on the iPod in West’s absence, later setting the selfies as the device’s lock screen. Even when West thought he had everything under control, Seamus made sure him and his teammates could still have a little bit of fun.
“He will always come up with a quip or a tease,” West told The Daily. “He’s just got that Ferris-Bueller, goofball kind of way to him.”
The cleverness he uses to come up with harmless pranks and silly jokes correlates with the creativity he displays on the ice. Seamus dangles and dazzles his way around the ice more often than not. He utilizes nifty toe drags and crafty edge work to evade opponents and make a smart play up-ice.
“His skills are second to none,” West said. “He can stickhandle in a phone booth. If there were three people in there, he could stickhandle around all three people and open the door and still come out with the puck, so his skills are unbelievable.”
The defenseman’s creativity is so impressive, it almost feels like he’s a forward out on the ice. But for Seamus, it wasn’t foreign at all.
During his time with Compuware, he moved all around the lineup. West knew that Seamus had a unique offensive prowess for a defenseman as well as a high hockey IQ. The two assets combined put Seamus in a prime position to split time playing on both the forward and defensive lines.
“The whole game, I was walking up and down the bench and that was so fun,” Seamus said. “I would play with different lines, so I would be left wing and then I would be center on one line and then play right (defenseman) and then left, so I think that was cool because I learned how to play in a lot of different areas of the ice.”
It’s not everyday that you find a player who enjoys playing almost every position. Seamus not only enjoyed the opportunity to do so, but if he slapped on a pair of goalie pads he probably would have fielded a team all by himself. His versatility is one of the many reasons that he is finding so much success at Michigan today.
Seamus plays in virtually every situation for the Wolverines. He is the quarterback on the first-ranked powerplay in the nation and a mainstay on the penalty kill. He is the guy Michigan coach Brandon Naurato puts on the ice for the first and final minutes of almost every game.
It’s not an easy role by any measures. There are certainly lofty expectations placed on Seamus’s shoulders to produce and perform at an elite level. He doesn’t only excel in an elevated role at Michigan, though. He revels in it.
“I can tell you, he’s having the time of his life (at Michigan),” Karen Casey, Seamus’ mom, said. “He’s enjoying every single minute, and it shows. He loves it there, he loves the team and everything about it.”
And if Compuware began paving the way for this growth to occur, the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) all but cemented his success.
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USNTDP is famous for developing high-end NHL talent through a rigorous training program that pushes athletes every day to be the best.
It also provides athletes with the opportunity to travel to different countries, compete in international tournaments and see how they stack up against other talented players around the world.
Seamus made the most of the experience regardless of the country he visited. From running around the Italian Alps with his dad to winning gold in Sweden with Team USA, Seamus has been around the world and back with plenty of tales to tell from the journey.
His family makes sure that he hasn’t had to do it alone, either. The Caseys have shown up for Seamus in more ways than one over the years, best highlighted by the first time he competed on an international stage in the 2020 Youth Olympics in Switzerland.
A crowd of Caseys lined the stands at Vaudoise Arena to support Seamus and his hockey career. A total of 24 family members made the trek from the United States to Switzerland — his godmother even came over from Ireland. It was nothing short of a party, and it’s still one of Seamus’s favorite hockey memories to date.
“He has this energy about him that is infectious,” West said. “He’s kinder than kind … that goes back to the family. Steve, Karen, Ben, Declan. They’re a special unit — great heritage. It comes back to the family.”
Seamus’s zest for life and for hockey stems back to the people who showed it to him in the first place. Whether he’s helping an injured teammate off the ice or giving a stick to a young fan when no one is looking, he’s constantly spreading some of that joy to others along the way.
Because it doesn’t matter what he’s doing, where he is or who he is with. He could be playing hockey with his teammates at Michigan. He could be stealing iPods in the Compuware locker room. He could be spending time with his 24-plus person family at the Youth Olympics.
Seamus will find the magic wherever he goes, because he creates it in the first place – just like Ferris Bueller does on that fateful school day. Only one question thus remains:
Which adventure comes next?
