Meet Sam and Dave Boychuk; Two of the New York Islanders’ Newest Fans

Jun 19, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk(55) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during the third period in game four of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports

EOI: What’s the best story you three have from when you were kids?  Ever get in trouble for something innocent you shouldn’t have been doing?

SB: Dave & I used to always get home from school earlier than Johnny and with our parents still at work we used to pull out the plexi-glass dump 100 pucks out and make Johnny shoot them on our net every day no matter how frigid the temperatures were. If he didn’t call his shot we would they would have to be redone before we would let him come inside the house.

DB: When I look back to when were all younger, the best story’s all stem from us being at the outdoor rink in our community of Newton in Edmonton.  We spent all of our free time at the rink as soon as school ended until we had to come home for supper, and head back to the rink until it closed.  Hopefully the extra practice for Johnny has paid off…. He still only has the 3^rd hardest shot out of us 3 boys.  Did we ever get in trouble? You bet we did.  Again it involved pucks, missing targets and smashing windows, our parents having to replace windows every other week

"“Johnny took the Stanley Cup to the Edmonton Stollery Children’s Hospital for a few hours to share this great day with kids who had been going through some tough battles of their own”"

EOI:  When Johnny won the Stanley Cup in 2011 did you and your family get to spend any time with the cup?

SB: We actually were fortunate enough to be in Vancouver for the clincher so we got to get the full experience. We were on the Ice when they paraded around as well as party in the dressing room with all the boys it was amazing. Each player got to have there one day with the cup so Johnny has a big gathering at Ft Edmonton park with a bunch of guys playing the bag pipes walking him out. Pretty incredible.

DB: We had a gathering where friends and family could come and take pics, have a BBQ and some drinks, I forget how many showed up but I believe it was around 500 or more people.  For the afternoon, Johnny took the Stanley Cup to the Edmonton Stollery Children’s Hospital for a few hours to share this great day with kids who had been going through some tough battles of their own.  Johnny then brought the Stanley Cup back to our parents house, where we had a small gathering of our close family and friends.  Here we took pics, got to study the engravings, drank out of the Stanley Cup, and were able to hoist and feel the weight of this trophy.  I gotta say, the absolute best drinks I have ever had came out of the Stanley Cup, we cannot wait to be able to do this again very soon.