Long before he starred at Boston College, Matt Boldy made an impression on assistant coach Marty McInnis in a whole different way.
Boldy, 23, the Minnesota Wild winger, played for the touted youth travel team out of Foxboro, Mass., the South Shore Kings, which boasts alumni who made it to the NHL including Kevin and Jimmy Hayes, Noah Hanifin, Brian Boyle and, more recently, Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers.
McInnis, a former NHLer himself, helped coach the Kings for several years before joining Boston College’s staff.
Boldy had been a fixture at the McInnis’ home, thanks to his great friendship with Marty’s son Chase McInnis, a longtime teammate. And it was in McInnis’ pickup truck on their carpool rides to Kings games and tournaments where McInnis saw Boldy let loose a little. Even when he was as young as 10.
“He does a lot of karaoke,” Marty McInnis says. “He did a lot of singing in the backseat. He’s not afraid. Even that high-pitched voice. I wish I had it on video now. We could torture him.”
“Whatever was on the radio,” Chase McInnis says. “He knew the songs.”
Boldy’s talent on the ice was more prodigious than his skill with a mic, and in those early years outside of his hometown of Millis, Mass., coaches like McInnis shaped his path to the NHL.
“My parents didn’t play; they didn’t know a ton about the sport,” Boldy says. “(McInnis) was about embracing creativity, making plays. Not wanting us to just dump it in. It still creeps in the back of my head, especially when things aren’t going well.”
Read more on Boldy here.
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