It’s days like these that put things in perspective for hockey players.
More than the lavender tape on their sticks and the uniforms the Rangers are set to wear for warmups Tuesday night at the Garden before a game against the Panthers, it’s the message of Hockey Fights Cancer month that has hit indelibly close to their locker room.
Because it wasn’t so long ago Brian Boyle was a pillar of that room, one of the integral pieces of the team that made it to the 2014 Stanley Cup final. Soon after Boyle signed a free-agent deal with the Devils this summer, and soon before the regular season started, he was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
“Just as soon as I found out, your stomach just drops. Just feel sick,” Rangers defenseman Marc Staal told The Post on Tuesday morning, speaking about the guy whom he called a teammate for five years and still calls a close friend.
“Then the next reaction is how can you help, if you can do anything. Just reach out and tell him that you’re there for him. He handled it in typical Brian way, with positivity. It’s great to see him, and what’s gone on the last couple weeks for him, it’s pretty special. Obviously considering the circumstances, it’s pretty unreal.”
That would be Boyle’s return to the ice, which came on Nov. 1 in Vancouver. But it climaxed this past Friday, when the Devils were holding their own Hockey Fights Cancer night in Newark. Boyle’s young son dropped the ceremonial first puck, and then Boyle went out and scored his second goal of the season.
“It’s Boyler, you know?” Staal said. “Has to be a little bit of flair.”
While Boyle has a treatable form of leukemia, the same one that Jason Blake fought his way back from and continued a successful career in the NHL, there are others out there not so fortunate — and that is exactly why the league has this month, and exactly why teams have these nights when young fans can come and get away from it all for a little while. In the rush of a season, sometimes nights like this get overlooked by all those involved on a day-to-day basis. But it still is meaningful to players to be able to give back in some way, and help.
That’s also why Staal and his three hockey-playing brothers — Eric and Jordan still being in the NHL — started the Staal Family Foundation, dedicated to helping families and children battling cancer.
“It always immediately puts things in perspective for you,” Marc Staal said. “We [my brothers] have small children, and you just look at families that go through that and put yourself in those shoes, puts things in perspective for everybody.”
So to have these young fans involved, at the game and in the locker room, it’s not just another charity event waltzing through Staal’s life.
“It’s cool that they’re fans of the game,” he said. “You get to see that, and they’re pumped up to be here and be in the room. That’s one of those moments, when you can slap their hand, they love it, it’s kind of awesome. It’s a very cool thing to be able to do what we do. We’re playing a game, but it’s a distraction and they can enjoy it when they’re fighting.”
It comes close to home, too, when it hits someone like Boyle — such a big physical presence at 6-foot-6, with his gigantic smile that stands in front of his Bostonian twang. With 12 siblings, Boyle found a way to stand out off the ice, and eventually found a way to stand out on it.
Now all of those whom he affected in that time are pulling for him, and that includes those in the Rangers’ locker room like Staal.
“Hockey and life are two separate things, but when you can combine the professional side of that to help with things off the ice, it’s always a major emotional booster,” Staal said. “Hockey families are small. You get to know a lot of people and you realize how much support you have. There’s a lot.”