Brian's Celebrity Blog: 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist: Dan Boyle

"Undrafted after four years with the Miami RedHawks of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), Boyle was signed as a free agent by the Florida Panthers on March 30, 1998. He played his first two seasons in the Panthers' farm system in the AHL earning All-Rookie Team honours in 1999, as well as Second Team All-Star honours in 1999 and 2000. Boyle earned a full0time roster spot with the Panters in 2000-01. The next season, his fourth in Florida, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a fifth round draft choice.

Boyle quickly emerged as an offensive threat on the highly-talented Lightning, playing behind Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards. He helped the team to the 2004 Stanley Cup championship.

He suffered a major setback, however, in September 2007, injuring himself in a freak accident after a pre-season game when a skate slipped off a hook in his locker and hit him in the left wrist, severing three tendons. Boyle underwent wrist surgery. He did not make a full comeback until January 24, 2008, scoring two goals in his return and soon thereafter was re-signed to a six-year, $40 million contract extension on February 25.

Despite coming off a recent contract extension with the Lightning, on July 4, 2008, Boyle was traded along with Brad Lukowich to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, a first round pick in 2009 and a fourth round pick in 2010. Boyle was pressured to waive his no-trade clause by Tampa Bay's new ownership, who said they would otherwise place him on waivers where he would likely be claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers. Already knowing Joe Thorning, Patrick Marleau and Evgeni Nabokov, Boyle agreed to be traded to the Sharks.

On December 30, 2009, Steve Yzerman named Boyle to the 2010 Winter Olympics team as a full member. On February 28, 2010, the team defeated the United States to win Canada's eighth gold medal in Olympic men's hockey." (wikipedia)

The all-star defenceman was in Ottawa on July 25, 2010 to help fight cancer. He was here as the guest of honour for the Dan Côté Foundation Charity Golf Tournament held at the Meadows in Gloucester.

The event was a 1pm shotgun start. I arrived at the course at around 12:45 and met up with Steve. All the participants in the golf tournament were sitting in power carts getting ready to head to their starting holes.

We approached Dan and he was very nice about it. He signed four photos for Steve. He then signed my 16x20.