Team USA physician taking in another Olympic experience

When Dr. Joel Boyd looks at Brady Tkachuk and Matthew Tkachuk, he sees the Olympic rings come full circle.

Dr. Boyd is the physician for Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. He's reprising a role he had at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, where he cared for the first NHL players to participate in the Winter Games including rugged forward Keith Tkachuk, the father of the Ottawa Senators captain and Florida Panthers forward.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Dr. Boyd said. "It's an unbelievable feeling to think that Keith was on that team and now his two boys are playing and I'm here with them. It's just ridiculous."

Like the NHL players, the longtime team physician for the Minnesota Wild is thrilled to be back at the Olympics and is soaking up as much of the atmosphere and experience as he can considering the tournament's hectic schedule.

"It's been amazing to even watch the players in practice, so fast, so skill-oriented," he said. "I'm just excited to watch them play, whenever we play."

The 68-year-old orthopedic surgeon anxiously waited and hoped that he would get the call for the Olympics. He lobbied Team USA and Wild general manager Bill Guerin to be the physician at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year, when he half-jokingly told his boss not to be afraid "to pull the old guy out of mothballs" and return him to international competition.

Dr. Boyd hoped the 4 Nations nod would provide the glidepath to Italy and what he believes is "the penultimate sporting activity on the planet."

"I mean, it harkens back to my childhood," he said. "Growing up, I always had to watch the Olympics no matter what. Summer or winter, it didn't matter."

Although Dr. Boyd was named to Team USA's staff Sept. 17, he said it didn't fully sink in that he was going back to the Winter Games until he arrived at the Olympic village last week.

"You see all the different countries represented, and people walking around in their colors and in their own swag," he said. "And the boys electing to stay in the village, as opposed to at a hotel, I mean, I think at that moment, it was 'Wow, we're really at the Olympics.'"

From his post behind the glass just off the U.S. bench at Santagiulia Arena, Dr. Boyd said he's noticed a generational difference between the 2026 American team and the squad that finished sixth in Nagano.

"This group that's come along now, these younger players, they've got a different passion and a different burn to sort of see this thing through," he said. "I can remember USA Hockey guys really almost begging some of the U.S. players to come and play in international tournaments when they were out of the playoffs. I think this new generation of players, they really embrace the whole USA Hockey experience and challenge."

Dr. Boyd is cherishing this Olympic experience with his wife, Cheryl, their children and grandchildren, who recently arrived in Milano Cortina. His daughter, Kendall Boyd Tyson, is senior vice president, finance and business intelligence for the Seattle Kraken. His son, Kyle Boyd, is the Kraken's senior director, fan development. Another son, Kasey Boyd, coaches youth hockey in the Seattle area.

They attended Team USA's 5-1 win against Team Germany on Sunday.

"I waved to them in the crowd," Dr. Boyd said. "I think they're excited to be here, and I'm excited to see them here."

Dr. Boyd is a hockey trailblazer. He became the NHL's first Black team physician when he joined the Wild in their inaugural season of 2000-01. The Washington, D.C. native and former Bucknell University football star earned his medical degree from Philadelphia's Temple University in 1984. He was team physician for the University of Minnesota football program, the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL and the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA.

He first became interested in hockey by watching Mike Marson, a forward who became the NHL's second Black player when he debuted with the expansion Washington Capitals in 1974-75. He delved deeper into the sport through a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, where part of his training dealt with hockey injuries.

A United States Olympic Committee training program for physicians led to opportunities with USA Hockey, including working with the U.S. Men's National Team at the 1998 IIHF World Championship and the Nagano Olympics.

And now he's soaking it all in at Milano Cortina.

"I figure that I have a couple more years of (medical) practice, and I have no idea what I'm going to do after that," Dr. Boyd said. "So, something like the Olympics, and [the Wild] playing well this season, this is a great way to cap it off."