Matthew Boldy was 8 years old and playing on a travel baseball team for 9-year-olds.
It was late on a chilly March day and the youngster who was pitching for Boldy’s team couldn’t find the plate because his fingers were too cold.
“I say, ‘Matty, have you ever pitched before?’ He goes, ‘Nope.’ I say, ‘How’d you like to give it a try?’ ” recalled Tom Bourque, who managed the team and coached Boldy (Millis, Mass.) in youth hockey with the Woonsocket North Stars and the 2001 Providence Capitals.
So Boldy took the mound. Years later, Bourque is still amazed by what happened.
“Matty strikes out the side on, like, nine pitches, like it was nobody’s business.”
Bourque (North Scituate, R.I.) told Boldy later that the way he rose to the occasion “just reinforced what I thought I knew about you through hockey: You are so damn competitive that you are going to work through anything.”
Boldy, now 21, is poised to be the next great NHL player from Massachusetts. His competitiveness is one of the traits that’s propelled him to the Minnesota Wild, the team that drafted him 12th overall in 2019.
After the Wild’s overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Oct. 22 at TD Garden, coach Dean Evason was asked how good Boldy can be. His answer: “He is already. You see what he is. He’s an elite, elite player.”
A path through Michigan
Boldy’s father, Todd, never played hockey. He was a football player in high school who went on to the University of Maine and to AIC.
Matt owned a Boston College football helmet when he was young, and his dad suspects he might have made a good wide receiver or quarterback, but he was drawn to the ice.
When Matt’s older brother Mike was getting started with the Woonsocket North Stars, playing out of the iconic Adelard Arena at Mount St. Charles, Matt joined in.
“Both my kids loved it. I never had to beg them to go. It helped them get all their schoolwork done,” said their mother, Jennifer Gruttadauria.
By his Mite minor year, Boldy was playing for the 2001 Providence Capitals of the Eastern Hockey Federation, coached by Bourque. As the youngsters in that age group developed, an extraordinary number of top players emerged. Boldy was one of them.
The Minuteman Flames had Henry Thrun (Harvard/Anaheim), Patrick Moynihan (Providence College/New Jersey) and Sean Farrell (Harvard/Montreal). The Boston Junior Eagles had Sam Colangelo (Northeastern/Anaheim). Skating for the Capitals, in addition to Boldy, were Jayden Struble (Northeastern/Montreal) and Brett Berard (Providence College/Rangers).
“Matty was the boy that steps on the ice and is not only so good himself, but he just makes everybody better,” said Bourque. “He was just an average-size player at that time. It didn’t matter. He saw the game different.”
Back then, the idea that her son might be an NHL star one day isn’t something that his mom gave any thought to.
“The first thing that all hockey parents and coaches tell you is, ‘Don’t ever expect your kid to be in the NHL.’ So I really never did. I just did logistics, getting everyone from Point A to Point B. Feed them. Get their stuff together. I didn’t really pay attention to a lot of that stuff,” said Gruttadauria.
“Trust me, I knew he was good. I knew that every team he played on, when he got the puck he would do something amazing with it.”
Boldy continued to climb the ladder, and when he reached high school age he enrolled at Dexter Southfield School for the 2016-17 season. After scoring 26 points in 29 games as a freshman, Boldy was invited to Michigan to try out for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.
He was offered a spot on the team but didn’t immediately take it.
“Matt was like, ‘Dad, what do you think? I’m not sure. How much playing time am I going to get?’ ” said Todd Boldy.
“And I told him, he’s close with John Joyce (of the Boston Junior Eagles). He’s close with (longtime NHL player) Marty McInnis. He had Dan Donato as his coach at Dexter. I said, what you need to do is talk to other people and then decide.”
In the meantime, Todd received a call from John Wroblewski, coach of the NTDP’s U-17 team.
“He said, ‘I really want Matt on this team. The scouts and other people recommended other players, but there’s something about this kid. This program is the best thing for him,’ ” said Todd.
“I asked what line would he be on and he said we don’t do lines. Basically don’t do positions except when they are at the faceoff dot.
“I said, ‘Coach, that’s what I wanted to hear. I know if you give my son the opportunity, it’s up to him to earn his ice time. And I can guarantee he will take advantage of it because that is the type of athlete he is.’
“Work hard. Earn your time. Take advantage of it.”
And Matt did.
Blossoming at BC
After a season in which he put up 33-48-81 in 64 games for the NTDP 18s, Boldy was the fourth American and fifth player from the NTDP picked in the first round of the NHL draft in 2019.
Jack Hughes went first to New Jersey, Alex Turcotte went fifth to Los Angeles and Trevor Zegras went ninth to Anaheim before Boldy was selected by Minnesota at No. 12.
A few months later, Boldy was a freshman at Boston College. He started slow, with only a goal and two assists in 15 games before Christmas.
“He had a lot of grade A’s. He just couldn’t find the back of the net. He was a little frustrated,” said Marc McLaughlin (North Billerica, Mass.), his teammate at BC who signed with the Boston Bruins last spring.
Mostly as a result of that slow start, Boldy didn’t make the U.S. team for the World Junior Championship.
Todd Boldy said when he talked to his son during that dry spell, Matt remained in a good place mentally.
“He’d say, ‘Honestly, I think I’m the best player every time I go out there. I’m just not scoring.’ He talked to (director of player development Brad) Bombardir from the Wild and he’d say the same thing.”
In the second half of the 2019-20 season, that competitiveness kicked in and Matt took his game to another level.
Todd Boldy said his son used not making the WJC team “as a springboard."
"Matt gets pissed," he said. "He’s a competitive kid. He knows he could have made a difference on that team. ‘You don’t think I’m good enough? I’m going to go prove I’m good enough.’ ”
McLaughlin agreed.
“He didn’t make world juniors and it ticked him off. He came back (after Christmas) an absolute beast, a man on a mission, and he was dominant,” McLaughlin said.
Boldy put up 23 points in the last 19 games at BC and finished with 9-17-26 in 34 games.
He was a lock to make the 2020-21 WJC team, unlike the previous year. That team, stacked with many of the best and brightest of the 2001 birth dates, delivered a gold medal, beating Canada in the championship game.
Only Zegras with seven scored more goals than Boldy, who had 5-2-7 in seven games, but “as good as he was offensively, he was one of our best penalty killers also. That speaks volumes,” said Providence College’s Nate Leaman, who coached the gold-medal team.
“He’s got everything. He’s got the IQ, he’s got the stick and he’s got the body and the skating. There’s no holes,” said Leaman.
When it was over Boldy returned to BC and went back to work with Alex Newhook and Mike Hardman (Hanover, Mass.) on one of the most explosive lines in the country.
“They had amazing chemistry. You could tell they knew exactly where each other was going to be on the ice at all times. It was pretty cool to watch,” said McLaughlin.
Boldy finished his sophomore season with 11-20-31 in 22 games. Then it was time to turn pro.
‘I can produce’
A few days after BC’s season ended in March 2021, Boldy signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Wild. He reported to the team’s AHL affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, to begin his pro career.
He made a splash right away, scoring a goal and an assist and being chosen No. 1 star in his first game.
In the AHL, highly touted rookies aren’t always welcomed by their teammates. There can be resentment over the way that No. 1 draft picks are treated compared to other players. Sometimes the high pick comes in with an attitude of entitlement. None of that happened when Boldy joined the Iowa Wild.
“The biggest thing he said was, the guys are great. They were accepting, happy to have him, and coach (Tim) Army (East Providence, R.I.) was great,” said Todd Boldy, who flew out with son Mike to see Matt’s first game.
The 6-foot-2, 201-pound Boldy averaged better than a point per game with 6-12-18 in 14 games in the AHL that first year. He returned to Iowa to start the 2021-22 season and put up 4-6-10 in 10 games.
Boldy’s quick adjustment to the pro game came as no surprise to his friend McLaughlin.
“I know what he’s capable of. He’s extremely athletic. Gifted. He also has the compete that goes along with it. The big thing for him is he uses his body so well and he’s so strong on his edges. He has that strength and ability to possess the puck and extend a play,” he said.
After three months in the AHL to start 2021-22, Boldy was summoned to the big club. His dream of playing in the NHL came true and his first game was in Boston, where the Wild played on Jan. 6 of this year.
“To go to the TD Garden and watch him live his dream that he’s worked so hard for … surreal,” said Todd Boldy.
To make the night even more special, Matt scored the game-winning goal in Minnesota’s 3-2 win.
“It definitely was a storybook script,” said Todd Boldy.
His mom was captured on a family celebration video that lives on YouTube, letting out a jubilant expletive after Matt’s goal.
“That was not one of my shining moments, but it was amazing,” she says now with a laugh.
In his second trip to Boston as an NHLer on Oct. 22, Matt again shone under the bright lights. He scored one goal on a redirection (“This time, I kept my celebration PG,” his mother said) and had another one wiped when it was ruled a kick.
After the game, Matt was asked how good a player he believes he can be in the world’s best league.
“In my head I know I can play here. I can make plays, I can produce,” he said.
His sights are set on being “that all-around player that can play in all situations, that can play 20 minutes a night and have your coach’s confidence,” he said.
If he’s not that guy already, he’s getting closer with each game.
