University of Minnesota Athletics
My NHL Debut: Travis Boyd
8/17/2018 10:49:00 AM | Men's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS -- The 2017-18 NHL season saw 26 Gopher Hockey alums take the ice -- tying the known NCAA record -- including seven University of Minnesota alums who made their NHL debuts last year. GopherSports.com is checking in with all seven to hear about their first taste of the NHL starting today with Washington Capitals forward and Stanley Cup champion Travis Boyd.
A native of Hopkins, Minn., Boyd made his NHL debut with the Capitals on Dec. 4, 2017 in a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. The forward went on to skate in eight regular-season games and tallied his first career point with a spinning backhanded assist to Alexander Ovechkin. Washington's sixth round pick (177th overall) in 2011, Boyd stayed with the Capitals during the Stanley Cup Playoffs and entered the lineup for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round, helping the team defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime to advance and eventually claim the Stanley Cup for the first time in team history.
Boyd skated for the Gophers from 2011-2015 and was part of the first class in program history to win four-straight regular-season conference championships (starting Minnesota's NCAA record of six-straight titles). The forward notched 96 points (32 goals, 64 assists) in 148 career games and was a Second Team All-Big Ten honoree as a senior after tallying career highs of 41 points and 19 goals in 32 games. A four-year letter winner and a three-time academic all-conference recipient, Boyd helped the Maroon & Gold clinch four NCAA tournament berths including a pair of Frozen Four appearances. In his four years with the program, the Gophers led the nation with 105 wins.
Take us back to the 2011 Draft. You're the youngest guy picked that year. What was going through your head when the Capitals selected you?
I was just excited about getting drafted. Once it got settled in and you realize who you got picked by, I knew I was picked by a great organization and a great team. At the time they drafted me, they were a perennial powerhouse in the league. To be able to stay that way seven years after I was drafted, to be able to be a part of their first Stanley Cup championship team is pretty special and pretty memorable. I knew I was the youngest guy in the draft because the cutoff was the 15th of September and my birthday was the 14th, so if my mom would have had me 12 hours later, I would have been in the next year's draft.
Tell us about getting the call up to play in your first NHL game.
It was a Sunday, and we had a game in Hershey so I was at the rink. I went and picked up a pregame meal before a 5 o'clock game and it was already close to noon. I was going to eat quick, take an hour nap and head back to the rink for the game in Hershey. I was pulling into my house in Hershey and I got a call from our head coach and he told me that I got called up, someone's dinged up and you're going to be playing tomorrow. He told me to pack up and head down to D.C., and ended up getting down there that night and playing the next night. It's crazy how fast it happens. I was in Hershey for close to two and a half years, and had been called up one time before and never played. You sit there and think, 'When am I finally going to get called up, when am I finally going to get a chance?' and it's just like, one random day it happens and 24 hours later I was playing my first game. It's crazy how quick it happens
With how fast it all happened, were you able to get any friends or family out to Washington?
So I wasn't 100 percent sure I was going to play or not, but I called my parents and said I was pretty sure I was playing, but I won't know for sure until tomorrow morning at pregame skate. They told me to plan and prepare like I was playing, so I told them to come out because I knew they had a game two days later, so I figured there was a pretty good chance I would get in to one of them at least. So I had a good group of people come out. My girlfriend and daughter were out in Hershey with me, so they just drove down with me. So we had a good crew, parents, my brother, some uncles flew in and my grandma. It was a special night, for sure.
How did it feel when you finally took the ice for your first game, especially knowing how long you had waited for that chance?
It's hard to describe. I kept telling myself through the whole day, with not being able to sleep the night before and not being able to take a pregame nap. You get down there, and you have butterflies in your stomach and you're as nervous as can be. I kept telling myself that this is everything I wanted and to enjoy it. You deserve to be here, and just convince myself that everything's going to be alright, going to get out there and make a couple good plays, and hopefully feel like I can play at that level
Fast forward a couple games and you get your first NHL point with a crazy, spinning backhanded assist to the one and only Alexander Ovechkin. What did that feel like?
That was a memorable way to get it. For me, yeah, people could disagree, but I was trying to kind of throw it to the back door to Ovi. I saw him cutting down as we entered the zone, so I figured he was going to stay over there. When I dragged the puck down to the middle I noticed both of the guys kind of came over to me and I just threw one over in his area where he could get it and I figured he'd have a split-second to do something with it. So I did a spin, a little back hand pass and he tipped it right in. All together, the coolest thing about that is, at the end of the day, I can say that my first NHL point was an assist to Alex Ovechkin. It was goal 601, right after his 600th, another milestone goal, I was able to have him to sign his stick and he wrote a personalized letter and note to me on the stick he scored his goal with and I have that on my new house. I have to find a place to hang that up, but that will be up on my wall for the rest of time.
Then after all that, you go through the entire Stanley Cup run with the team...help them get past Pittsburgh in Game 7...and your season culminates with an emotional championship for the Capitals.
It's super surreal, even more so for me. You've got guys who are crying on the ice, because that's everything they've ever dreamed of doing. If someone told me that I was going to be winning a Stanley Cup with Washington in June, I would have said, "yeah right". Just how everything worked out for me, getting called up in February and becoming someone who helped the team secure their spot and move forward in the playoffs. I know I wasn't a huge part, and I don't get my name on it and all the stuff that comes with it, but I feel like I was a part of it, and I helped them win it, and that's something I know I can be proud of for the rest of my life.
What can you tell us about partying with the Stanley Cup?
The way things worked out, Ovechkin had the Cup for like two weeks in Russia, so I didn't get my own day with the cup. But, the day after, Oshie text me and said, "Hey I heard you aren't getting your own day with the cup. Here's the day of mine, you're going to be there, we're going to celebrate together". So first and foremost a huge thank you to Oshie and Brian MacLellan for both being nice enough to share their day with the cup that they've worked their entire lives to get too. For them to, in that moment, think of me, and invite me to join them and celebrate meant a lot to me. It meant a lot to my family too, I had some of my extended family and parents and everyone get pictures with the cup and have some drinks out of it. Again, I know I wasn't the biggest part of it, but at the end of the day, I'm proud to say that I was a part of a team that won the Stanley Cup, and I got to spend a little bit of time with it this summer and, ultimately, I hope I can win another one and be a bigger part of a team that wins a cup. Playing every game, and scoring a couple big goals in the playoffs because that would make it even sweeter. For now, I'm happy with how the year went, and I can't wait to get started next season.
A native of Hopkins, Minn., Boyd made his NHL debut with the Capitals on Dec. 4, 2017 in a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. The forward went on to skate in eight regular-season games and tallied his first career point with a spinning backhanded assist to Alexander Ovechkin. Washington's sixth round pick (177th overall) in 2011, Boyd stayed with the Capitals during the Stanley Cup Playoffs and entered the lineup for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round, helping the team defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime to advance and eventually claim the Stanley Cup for the first time in team history.
Boyd skated for the Gophers from 2011-2015 and was part of the first class in program history to win four-straight regular-season conference championships (starting Minnesota's NCAA record of six-straight titles). The forward notched 96 points (32 goals, 64 assists) in 148 career games and was a Second Team All-Big Ten honoree as a senior after tallying career highs of 41 points and 19 goals in 32 games. A four-year letter winner and a three-time academic all-conference recipient, Boyd helped the Maroon & Gold clinch four NCAA tournament berths including a pair of Frozen Four appearances. In his four years with the program, the Gophers led the nation with 105 wins.
Take us back to the 2011 Draft. You're the youngest guy picked that year. What was going through your head when the Capitals selected you?
I was just excited about getting drafted. Once it got settled in and you realize who you got picked by, I knew I was picked by a great organization and a great team. At the time they drafted me, they were a perennial powerhouse in the league. To be able to stay that way seven years after I was drafted, to be able to be a part of their first Stanley Cup championship team is pretty special and pretty memorable. I knew I was the youngest guy in the draft because the cutoff was the 15th of September and my birthday was the 14th, so if my mom would have had me 12 hours later, I would have been in the next year's draft.
Tell us about getting the call up to play in your first NHL game.
It was a Sunday, and we had a game in Hershey so I was at the rink. I went and picked up a pregame meal before a 5 o'clock game and it was already close to noon. I was going to eat quick, take an hour nap and head back to the rink for the game in Hershey. I was pulling into my house in Hershey and I got a call from our head coach and he told me that I got called up, someone's dinged up and you're going to be playing tomorrow. He told me to pack up and head down to D.C., and ended up getting down there that night and playing the next night. It's crazy how fast it happens. I was in Hershey for close to two and a half years, and had been called up one time before and never played. You sit there and think, 'When am I finally going to get called up, when am I finally going to get a chance?' and it's just like, one random day it happens and 24 hours later I was playing my first game. It's crazy how quick it happens
With how fast it all happened, were you able to get any friends or family out to Washington?
So I wasn't 100 percent sure I was going to play or not, but I called my parents and said I was pretty sure I was playing, but I won't know for sure until tomorrow morning at pregame skate. They told me to plan and prepare like I was playing, so I told them to come out because I knew they had a game two days later, so I figured there was a pretty good chance I would get in to one of them at least. So I had a good group of people come out. My girlfriend and daughter were out in Hershey with me, so they just drove down with me. So we had a good crew, parents, my brother, some uncles flew in and my grandma. It was a special night, for sure.
How did it feel when you finally took the ice for your first game, especially knowing how long you had waited for that chance?
It's hard to describe. I kept telling myself through the whole day, with not being able to sleep the night before and not being able to take a pregame nap. You get down there, and you have butterflies in your stomach and you're as nervous as can be. I kept telling myself that this is everything I wanted and to enjoy it. You deserve to be here, and just convince myself that everything's going to be alright, going to get out there and make a couple good plays, and hopefully feel like I can play at that level
Fast forward a couple games and you get your first NHL point with a crazy, spinning backhanded assist to the one and only Alexander Ovechkin. What did that feel like?
That was a memorable way to get it. For me, yeah, people could disagree, but I was trying to kind of throw it to the back door to Ovi. I saw him cutting down as we entered the zone, so I figured he was going to stay over there. When I dragged the puck down to the middle I noticed both of the guys kind of came over to me and I just threw one over in his area where he could get it and I figured he'd have a split-second to do something with it. So I did a spin, a little back hand pass and he tipped it right in. All together, the coolest thing about that is, at the end of the day, I can say that my first NHL point was an assist to Alex Ovechkin. It was goal 601, right after his 600th, another milestone goal, I was able to have him to sign his stick and he wrote a personalized letter and note to me on the stick he scored his goal with and I have that on my new house. I have to find a place to hang that up, but that will be up on my wall for the rest of time.
Then after all that, you go through the entire Stanley Cup run with the team...help them get past Pittsburgh in Game 7...and your season culminates with an emotional championship for the Capitals.
It's super surreal, even more so for me. You've got guys who are crying on the ice, because that's everything they've ever dreamed of doing. If someone told me that I was going to be winning a Stanley Cup with Washington in June, I would have said, "yeah right". Just how everything worked out for me, getting called up in February and becoming someone who helped the team secure their spot and move forward in the playoffs. I know I wasn't a huge part, and I don't get my name on it and all the stuff that comes with it, but I feel like I was a part of it, and I helped them win it, and that's something I know I can be proud of for the rest of my life.
What can you tell us about partying with the Stanley Cup?
The way things worked out, Ovechkin had the Cup for like two weeks in Russia, so I didn't get my own day with the cup. But, the day after, Oshie text me and said, "Hey I heard you aren't getting your own day with the cup. Here's the day of mine, you're going to be there, we're going to celebrate together". So first and foremost a huge thank you to Oshie and Brian MacLellan for both being nice enough to share their day with the cup that they've worked their entire lives to get too. For them to, in that moment, think of me, and invite me to join them and celebrate meant a lot to me. It meant a lot to my family too, I had some of my extended family and parents and everyone get pictures with the cup and have some drinks out of it. Again, I know I wasn't the biggest part of it, but at the end of the day, I'm proud to say that I was a part of a team that won the Stanley Cup, and I got to spend a little bit of time with it this summer and, ultimately, I hope I can win another one and be a bigger part of a team that wins a cup. Playing every game, and scoring a couple big goals in the playoffs because that would make it even sweeter. For now, I'm happy with how the year went, and I can't wait to get started next season.
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