Boyle, Devils brace for emotional Hockey Fights Cancer night

Evan Sporer

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Boyle, Devils brace for emotional Hockey Fights Cancer night image

NEWARK -- Like many hockey players, Brian Boyle is conditioned not to talk about himself. He's selfless and has a big personality to go along with his 6-foot-6 frame, though a lighter one more apt to tell a joke than throw a verbal jab.

It's Nov. 24, and Boyle is set to appear in his 12th game of the season for the New Jersey Devils. But on this gameday, Boyle is forced to talk about himself, as much as he tries to deflect the topic to his teammates, or on this day, even his family.

"He's trying to move past it as much as he can where he just wants to be one of the guys and just get on with his career," said Devils goaltender Cory Schneider. "But it obviously is still very personal and new to him, and recent."

Boyle was diagnosed Chronic Myeloid/Myelogenous Leukemia during training camp, a rare but treatable form of cancer. He missed the Devils first 10 games of the season before debuting Nov. 1 against the Vancouver Canucks. On Friday, Boyle and the Devils will host those same Canucks in New Jersey when the team also has its Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness night, an event that holds significantly more meaning for Boyle considering his current battle with the disease.

"Instead of thinking about it just on the day we put on the lavender jerseys and tape our sticks, it's been something that's really hit home with me, and I appreciate the initiative all the more," Boyle said.

As he sat in his locker room stall on Friday answering questions for the media after morning skate like it was any other game day, it couldn't have been anything further from the truth.

"The support these guys have given me throughout, and like I've said, the questions they've had to answer, they've had to speak on my behalf sometimes when I haven't been here, and then when I came back, it's a running story line that jeez, you wonder, 'Hey, hopefully it's not getting out of hand here,'" Boyle said. "I try to remind myself that if we can help the cause then it's worth it, and these guys have been unbelievable with me, and the organization has been unbelievable to me."

On Friday, the cause will be very clear when the Devils wear special Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness night jerseys during pregame. Unique to the Devils' lavender sweaters will be a 'Boyle Strong' patch, a nod to the 32-year-old forward.

"Getting back into what we normally do, what we love to do, I reflect every day, I'm not losing sight of what's happened, but I'm able to get past it a little quicker and get focused," he said.

As Boyle selflessly heaped praise onto others, in this instance, and this narrative, the cliche was far less applicable. There are his teammates, his new teammates -- it being his first year in New Jersey -- who have stood by him while he's gotten back into playing form, supporting him along the way.

There is his family, wife Lauren, son Declan (2) and sister Gabrielle (in from Nashville) who will be by his side for the ceremonial puck drop before the game starts. "Hopefully my son drops the puck and he doesn't run away with it, and doesn't try to run on the ice and fall," Boyle said.

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And then there are children like Abdiel Collazo, an 8-year-old from Perth Amboy, N.J., who perhaps will elicit the most emotion out of Boyle, and whom he draws the most inspiration from in his recovery.

Collazo is the Devils honorary coach on Friday. At 3, he was diagnosed with Leukemia; he's currently in remission. He was very active during New Jersey's morning skate, drawing up plays on the white board, chumming it up with his new players and wearing a smile ear-to-ear that would never reveal a morsel of what he's been through. He'll also be a part of that ceremonial puck drop with Boyle and his family.

"Just imagine what he has to go through during the holidays with the family, and if he has siblings, what they're seeing," Boyle said, the cadence of his words slowing, their gravity growing by the clause. "It affects everybody, and like I've said: It's not fair. It's not fair when kids have to go through this, it's not fair when the parents have to try to explain it to a different kid in the family, explain what's wrong with your brother or sister, or explain to the brother or sister why they're not feeling well."

Boyle was affected by cancer before his own diagnosis. His father, Arthur, is a cancer survivor; three of Boyle's grandparents died due to the disease.

"It's a scary word, and it's always going to be a scary word because of what could happen," Boyle said. "But we have to keep moving forward and getting past what these kids have to deal with because it's the saddest thing I've ever seen."

It's something Boyle is trying to move past, because that's the type of person he is, and that's what is helping him most in his recovery.

That he is again a regular in an NHL lineup some 60 days after a cancer diagnosis is nothing short of remarkable. But Boyle knows he's lucky, while others aren't as fortunate as he, and that motivates him.

"If we can raise as much as we can (for) the research as we can to get treatments like the one I have, where the side-effects all things considered are minimal to zero," Boyle said. "And you can live a normal life."

Evan Sporer