For Boyle, 33, this was a weekend like no other, playing in his first NHL All-Star Game as a replacement for Devils teammate Taylor Hall just months after being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in September.
He got the biggest ovations all weekend. He got the love and the support from his teammates, his opponents, and a crowd that remembered him fondly for his playing days with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2014-17.
"To me, this is what our game is, not only the great skill level and all that," Metropolitan coach Barry Trotz said. "What makes our League really special is some of the stories and the people in the game that are dealing with different things. But they're such quality people and they deal with it in such a high-quality way that leaves a lasting memory, and it teaches the next generation the proper way to be as not only hockey players, but just humans in general."
Boyle isn't one for collecting memorabilia from his career. That's not his style. But he will take a few pieces of this weekend back home with him: There are the trinkets given to him, the jersey, and the videos that his wife sent from Boston where Boyle's two-year-old son Declan, who was at Boston Children's Hospital for a flare-up of an arteriovenous malformation in his jaw, was watching his father play.