Matthew Edward Boldy (born April 5, 2001) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

who is currently playing with the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL). He was drafted 12th overall by the Wild in the first round of the 2019 NHL entry draft.

Early life

Boldy was born on April 5, 2001, to parents Todd Boldy and Jennifer Gruttadauria. His father, Todd, was a football player at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

and currently serves as a member of the Attleboro Police Department. He was born in Millville, but his family moved to Millis when Boldy was in the fourth grade. Growing up, Todd encouraged Matthew and his brother Michael to play hockey instead of football due to limited options in Millis, Massachusetts. Boldy attended and skated for Medway High School before enrolling in the Dexter Southfield School before attending

Northville High School Northville High School is the public high school of Northville Public Schools located in Northville Charter Township, Michigan, with a Northville postal address. Within Wayne County the school serves most of Northville Township and the county ...

alongside Team USA teammate Henry Thrun. In his first year at Dexter, Boldy accumulated 13 goals and 13 assists in 29 games under coach Dan Donato. As a result, he was invited to try out for the

USA Hockey National Team Development Program The United States National Team Development Program (NTDP) represents the United States in the IIHF World U18 Championship. Additionally the team plays domestically against opponents in the United States Hockey League (under-17 and under-18 t ...

(USNTDP) in the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. Th ...

(USHL).

Playing career

Boldy joined the USNTDP for the

2017–18 USHL season The 2017–18 USHL Season (sports), season was the 39th List of USHL seasons, season of the United States Hockey League as an all-junior league. The regular season ran from October 6, 2017, to April 14, 2018. The regular season champions, the Wate ...

and led the team with 11 goals and four shorthanded goals in 13 games as a rookie. In his first year of draft eligibility, Boldy received an A rating on

NHL Central Scouting Bureau The NHL Central Scouting Services (CSS) is a department within the National Hockey League (NHL) that ranks prospects for the NHL entry draft at specific times during the hockey season. Players are ranked based on how well they will translate t ...

's preliminary players to watch list. He returned to the USNTDP for their 2018–19 season and recorded 33 goals and 48 assists for 81 points in 64 games. Upon signing his letter of intent at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

for the 2019–20 season, Boldy said "playing at BC was always a dream of mine...when I got the chance it was hard to pass up. I grew up going to their games and being around there. When I got the chance it was a pretty easy choice for me." During the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, Boldy was selected 12th overall by the

Collegiate

In his sophomore season with Boston College, he led the Eagles in scoring with 11 goals, 20 assists and 31 points in 22 games of the shortened

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. Boldy was named a

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 44 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton Universit ...

Top Ten Finalist before opting to end his collegiate career. On March 31, 2021, Boldy was signed to a three-year,

entry-level contract An entry-level job is a job that is normally designed or designated for recent graduates of a given discipline and typically does not require prior experience in the field or profession. These roles may require some on-site training. Many entr ...

with the Wild and was assigned to their

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL) affiliate, the

Iowa Wild The Iowa Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Wild play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena. The ...

, for the remainder of the season.

Professional

On January 6, 2022, Boldy made his NHL debut, scoring the game-winning goal against the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

in the Wild's 3–2 win. On February 14, 2022, Boldy earned his first NHL hat trick against the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

in the Minnesota Wild's 7–4 win. He finished his first season with the Wild with 15 goals and 24 assists in 47 games. On January 16, 2023, the Wild signed Boldy to a seven-year, $49 million contract extension.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boldy, Matt 2001 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American men's ice hockey centers Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey players Iowa Wild players Minnesota Wild draft picks Minnesota Wild players NHL first-round draft picks People from Millis, Massachusetts Ice hockey players from Massachusetts USA Hockey National Team Development Program players 21st-century American sportsmen 4 Nations Face-Off players