Posted: 15 May 2013
Source: Oshawa Express
Bryan Boyes finds home in hall of fame Oshawa Generals' Equipment Manager Bryan Boyes is being inducted into the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame this year. He is seen here with his son by his side. His son has recently graduated and is hoping to follow in his father's footsteps of becoming an equipment manager for a hockey team. The Oshawa Express will feature a different Hall of Fame inductee each week leading up to the dinner ceremony on May 29. This is the third of a five-part series and highlights Bryan Boyes. By Katie Richard/The Oshawa Express For more than 30 years, Bryan Boyes has taken care of all of the behind-the-scenes action for the Oshawa Generals hockey team. From sharpening skates to equipment repairs to setting up the dressing room and laundry, Boyes is the team’s go-to guy. Now his hard work is paying off. Boyes is one of this year’s Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame inductees. “It’s very humbling. It’s something you really don’t expect when you are involved in a game like hockey,” he says. “Something you love doing….you don’t look at it as a job.” Boyes wasn’t always behind the scenes though; he took to the ice for years too. Born in Oshawa, Boyes grew up in Pickering. “I played hockey in the Town of Pickering in the early ‘70s before I moved on to rep,” he says, where he played for Pickering Village. His career with the Generals began in the ‘70s too, where he started out as a stick boy. “I was introduced to Sherry Bassin when he was with the Pickering Panthers Junior B Team, and when he came to be the coach of the Generals he brought me along to help out with the training staff in 1976.” And the rest, as they say, is history. He took over as the team’s head athletic therapist and equipment manager in the ‘80s. It’s a position he still holds today. “My first year as the head trainer was in 1982 when we went to the Memorial Cup in Portland,” Boyes explains. “I just finished 31 years. It’s a long time.” But Boyes has ties to hockey through more than the Generals alone. Hockey Canada selected him as equipment manager for Canada’s National Junior team for five IIHF World Junior Championships, winning gold in 1996, 2005, 2006 and 2008 and silver in 1999. Noted as a “contributing force to the success of the Oshawa Generals, Canada’s National Junior Team program and our league” by CHL Commissioner Dave Branch, Boyes was also equipment manager for Canada’s entry at the 2012 IIHF World Hockey Championship in Germany. “I get to come to work everyday and work in the hockey rink,” he says. “Everyday is fun and a new challenge.” In his role with the Generals, Boyes has been a part of four Ontario Hockey League championships – 1983, 1987, 1990 and 1997 – and one Memorial Cup in 1990. Outside of the rink, Boyes says family is number one. “Work consumes a lot of time,” he says laughing. “My daughter rides and shows horses so I enjoy having the summers off to spend time with her. And my son helps me here (at the arena) in the winter.” Following in his father’s footsteps his son recently graduated and has hopes of becoming an equipment manager as well. This is such an honour, says Boyes. “He was named equipment manager for Team Ontario Under 17,” the proud father boasts. “He’s heading to the World Under 17 Championships in Cape Breton next Christmas.” Boyes also finds himself on the golf course in his off time. He now lives in Whitby with his wife, son and daughter.
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