Boyle counting blessings after birth of third child

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Brian Boyle knew that he'd be cutting it close.

Boyle was walking out of a team meeting prior to the Penguins' practice on New Year's Day. He checked his phone and saw a text from his wife, Lauren, who was pregnant with their third child and thought she might be in labor. She was at the family's home in Hingham, Mass.

Boyle immediately called Lauren, who told him, "Go practice, I don't know what's happening."

Luckily, Boyle's older sister Jennifer, a doctor who runs a family practice, was able to rush to Boyle's home. She recognized how close Lauren was to having the baby, and phoned her brother.

"Get out of there now," she told him. "Get a plane as fast as you can."

By then, it was 10:40 a.m. The Penguins' director of team services, Jason Seidling, booked Boyle on a flight to Boston for 11:51 a.m.

"I didn't have a toothbrush. I had nothing," Boyle recalled. "I just went. Luckily for me, the plane was delayed a little bit. (Seidling) had a car waiting for me right when I got there that brought me right to the hospital. I walked in the door. Everything was pretty calm."

When Boyle walked into his wife's room at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, it was 3:22 p.m. At 3:33, his son, Callum James, was born.

"It was like four minutes after she started," Boyle said of his wife. "She was a rock star, man."

PENGUINS

Brian Boyle and his son, Callum.

"She's doing great, he's doing great," Boyle said of his wife and son. "You know, just the best thing I've ever done is become a dad. So it's really exciting for us. It's a real great, big, big blessing for us."

Callum is Boyle's third child, joining son Declan and daughter Isabella. They wanted to stick with a Gaelic first name in Callum, and his middle name James comes from his wife's grandfather, who fought in World War II.

Boyle and his wife took their son home from the hospital on Monday, already decked out in his dad's team's gear:

Boyle stayed with his family in Massachusetts until Tuesday morning, when he had to leave to return to Pittsburgh for the Penguins' practice in Cranberry, something he called a "bittersweet" moment.

Boyle has had a number of moments like that one this season, with his wife and children continuing to live in Massachusetts this season. He credited his "understanding and supportive wife" Lauren with holding everything together while he's gone, from taking their son Declan to hockey practice to now caring for a newborn, allowing Boyle to continue to play hockey. He said that when he went home for Christmas, she had still managed to have the house "all decorated, like out of a magazine."

"She's been asked to go above and beyond what was probably thought to be a normal life," Boyle said of his wife. "She held it together a couple of years ago when things were kind of falling apart for us (during Boyle's battle with cancer), and she's holding it together now. She carried through that pregnancy when I was not there very often."

Boyle said that Declan, who turns 7 years old in the spring, is at the age where he understands why his dad can't be home, and what exactly he does for a living.

"He's tuned in every night to our games, whether I'm playing or not, and he likes to go over it the next day," Boyle said of his oldest son. "So it's pretty special for me that he's found that love that I have for this game at such a young age and we've been able to bond over that."

While Boyle has enjoyed having his kids get to see him play, it doesn't make living apart during the season any easier.

"It is hard being away," Boyle said. "It's hard missing my kids. It's days I won't get back."

Making such huge sacrifices like he has, and seeing the work his wife puts in for the family while he's away, has Boyle all the more driven to make the most of the opportunity he has with the Penguins.

"There are days that are hard, where you can't really help what's going on at home, I'd love to lend a hand," he said. "I'm here and just kind of sitting around, not doing a whole lot. So the focus kind of changes to 'Okay, what can I do to make sure I'm making the most of this?' It sounds crazy, but you've got to be a little selfish, you've got to focus on your own body, your wellbeing and being prepared to play every single day."

For Boyle, 37, making the most of this opportunity means one thing.

"I'm chasing the Cup," he said. "It's no secret. I want to be a part of a culture and make a playoff run again. That's the most fun hockey I've ever played."

Boyle's come close to that goal twice in his 15-year professional career. He made it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 with the Rangers, losing to the Kings in five games. He returned to the Final the following season -- this time with the Lightning -- only to lose to the Blackhawks in six games.

"You know, you get blessings as different things, as different roads," Boyle said. "Life will take you different places you don't know. You have to count your blessings."

Boyle's hoping to have one more blessing to count this June, one he'll be able to share with his wife and three children.