Alumni Spotlight: Dan Boyle

Which is more meaningful for a hockey player to win: Olympic gold or the Stanley Cup?

Ask Dan Boyle.

Very few athletes will ever know the joy that accompanies earning either prize, and only a tiny percentage of that group is fortunate enough to become both an NHL and Olympic champion.

Boyle is one of those players. The Miami Athletics Hall of Famer was part of the 2004 Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning, and followed that up a half dozen years later by helping Canada capture the gold medal on home ice in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

So which one does he treasure most?

"That's the number one question I get, but it's so easy for me," Boyle said. "The answer is the Stanley Cup.

"The grind of nine months: You can't compare that to two weeks and five or six games or whatever we played. It's the bond that you create with guys for that length of time. You talk about brotherhood – that's a special thing…

"First of all, I never expected to be in the NHL, so I can't say I dreamt about doing it. I was always told I [wasn't going to make it]. The fact that I was lifting the Cup, it was just a surreal moment, and it still is.

"It makes me part of a special group that not every player gets to be a part of."

Boyle gutted out the final few series of Tampa Bay's 2004 postseason run with a broken hand, but he wouldn't have dreamed of sitting out. "No one ever mentioned it or anything," Boyle remembered. "Now, everybody picks up everything with social media. Not a single word – no one even knew."

When it comes to the Olympics a few years later, Boyle remembers 'a country's worth of pressure.' The final game against the United States went to overtime before Canada finally prevailed 3-2. "For us, it was gold or bust," Boyle said. "A lot of countries would be proud of a silver medal, but not Canada."

It was only a year or two ago that he finally watched the replay of the gold medal game for the first time. "I was surprised at how much I played, and I was surprised at how well I played," Boyle said. "Especially when the U.S. tied the game late in the third period…there's less than a minute left, and I was out there with [Chris] Pronger. I did not remember that. That was pretty awesome, that the coaching staff believed enough in me to put me in there…

"I was like, 'Man, I'm making some pretty good plays here in a gold medal game!' I was nervous watching it 11 or 12 years later. I was impressed with how poised and calm I was at the time – I wasn't while I was watching it, for sure!"

Boyle got his start in the sport of hockey as a youngster in Ottawa, Ontario. "I would say nine out of 10 boys play hockey [there], so parents just push their kids into hockey. I was no different," said Boyle. "Started skating at age six; started playing when I was seven."

"I was very good the whole way through, but as I got older I was told I wasn't going to make it because I wasn't big enough. 25 years ago, defensemen that were 5-foot-10, 150 pounds weren't exactly a catch!"

Boyle ended up at Miami University, where he would go on to rewrite the record books during a stellar career on the ice from 1994-1998. He put up 147 points in 148 games, including 107 assists (the most ever by a Miami defenseman). Boyle produced 54 points for Miami's 1997 NCAA Tournament team (a single-season program record for a defenseman) and was a two-time First Team All-CCHA selection and First-Team West All-American in 1997 and 1998. During his senior year, Boyle served as a team captain, received the CCHA's Best Offensive Defenseman award, and was named a Hobey Baker Finalist.

"This is a undersized, undervalued, under-the-radar, undrafted hockey player coming out of Ottawa, Ontario who absolutely earned an opportunity to come to Miami," said current RedHawk head coach Chris Bergeron. "Dan became arguably one of the best players ever to play at Miami at his position and went on to have so much success in his career, both individually and collectively.

"It's a really unbelievable story and he's a proud Miami Hockey alum."

Boyle credits his persistence for eventually carving out an impressive NHL career despite never getting drafted. When he retired from the pros in 2016, he had played 1,053 regular-season games, put up 605 points, and participated in two All-Star Games.

"Who doesn't like a movie like Rudy?", Boyle laughed. "This underdog that fights and fights and fights and eventually makes it…I have one of those underdog stories.

"I'm very proud of my story: just not giving up, and believing in myself, although I didn't crack the NHL at 18 like some of these kids do now. I was 21 or 22, and it took some minor league games, and it took going undrafted, and it took a lot of gut checks.

"But I had thick skin, and I think it made me the player that I was. I played that way, and I still to this day carry myself in a way that I have that chip on my shoulder."

"He's somebody who never really took no for an answer," said Bergeron. "Dan Boyle is another example of what can be done if you put your mind to it and you're willing to work and you're going to fight through adversity instead of letting it define you.

"It may have taken him longer to prove that and find his opportunity in the pros, but once he showed what he could do, he really took off and went on to be a really, really good player in the history of our game."

Now that he's retired, Boyle enjoys getting to relax in his dream home near San Jose, Calif. and loves spending time with his two daughters. He continues to return to Oxford regularly to catch up with other Miami Hockey alums, including former teammate and current associate head coach Barry Schutte.

*Boyle (second from R) and the winning golf foursome in July 2022*

"We had a thing called the Brotherhood that was started before us and we just kept it going; we do it to this day where we all meet every summer," Boyle said. The most recent gathering, a golf outing last July, featured plenty of stories, smiles, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, another first-place finish for Boyle's trophy collection.

So which is more meaningful for a hockey player to win: Olympic gold, the Stanley Cup, or an alumni golf foursome championship?

Ask Dan Boyle.

Find more Front Row Features at MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.

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