'TBF' Backstopping Bay Reps' Title Hopes as Exciting Future Takes Shape
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 27, 2026
Tyler Boynton-Fischer knows his high school ice hockey career could end any day now.
He also knows, or at least hopes, his playing days are far from over. Many, including his coaches, believe he’ll play at the next level and just maybe in the National Hockey League.
Boynton-Fisher is the record-setting goalie for the Bay Area Reps, a hockey co-op hosted by Traverse City St. Francis that includes athletes from Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona and Suttons Bay. He’s a senior at Traverse City St. Francis, and he finds himself in a familiar position.
The Reps are in the Quarterfinal for the second time over three years with Boynton-Fisher as their starting goalie. They advanced to the Regional Finals last season with Boynton-Fischer in net and his older brother Thomas, a senior then, and Grant Lucius leading an explosive attack.
Regardless of what happens when they take on Freeland on Saturday in Gaylord, the 6-foot-2 and growing goalie should play on. He’s been dreaming of playing in the NHL as far back as he can remember – and maybe longer.
“If I can, playing in the NHL would be really cool,” Fisher-Boynton said. “I am just excited to see what I can do and see what level I can play at.”
The dream could have begun as an infant when he was literally placed in the Stanley Cup as it visited Traverse City in 2008. From a photo, it almost looks like he was dreaming about making a kick save.
And while scientists continue to debate exactly when children start dreaming, Boynton-Fisher’s started in or before he was in first grade. His first-grade teacher, Kim Tumey, and his mother, Alysia Boynton-Fischer, recall having a follow-up discussion on a lesson at Willow Hill Elementary School in Traverse City.
Fisher-Boynton declared to his entire classroom he was going to play in the National Hockey League. Tumey, now retired, said the declaration was in response to how the students thought they could make money when they’re older. Tumey recalled further questioning Boynton-Fisher, and he said his mom would provide financially for him if he didn’t.
Boynton-Fisher is already making arrangements to play juniors – competitive amateur level for players aged 16–21 (but primarily 18–19) designed to develop skills for college and or professional hockey. His older brother Thomas went on to play for the juniors team in Saskatchewan after setting the Reps’ single-season assists record at 38 and finishing his high school career high on the Reps’ all-time career assists and scoring lists.
Their cousin, Dyson Drake, is playing juniors right now in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Drake is the son Dallas Drake, a member of the 2008 Stanley Cup-winning Detroit Red Wings. Fisher-Boynton often gets ice time with his uncle and cousin.
The former Red Wing was the first to hoist the cup on the ice, and he brought it to his Traverse City residence late that summer. He believes Boynton-Fischer has what it takes to play at the next level. The family and doctors believe the senior is still growing, giving him even more puck stopping capabilities.
“Tyler’s very athletic, and he's had a great high school career,” Dallas Drake said. “I know he wants to move on. I'm looking forward to see what he does.”
Drake is quick to point out Boynton-Fisher and his entire family has had to overcome challenges to get to today.
“We had a big loss in the family with his dad passing away,” Drake acknowledged. “He's gone through a lot in the last four or five years, and he's obviously adjusted very well, and he's a great kid. He works hard.”
Boynton-Fisher’s father Toby died unexpectedly before he started high school, causing him to step away from hockey briefly. He returned to the game with his brother knowing their father would want it that way.
“Everything was perfect – I was playing hockey, having so much fun. … We were in the summertime, and then he passed away,” Boynton-Fisher recalled. “It’s pretty traumatic when you realize you're not going to have a dad.”
Keeping the brothers playing hockey, and his sister Izzy in travel volleyball, has been a priority and a challenge for his mother.
“My number one goal after Toby passed away was to make sure that the trajectory of the kids’ sports wouldn’t change – Toby would hate that more than anything,” Alysia Fisher-Boynton said. “I could have never done that without all the help and love we received from all of our sports families.”
The loss led to Boynton-Fisher’s life motto.
“Through some rough things you can still have fun and live life to the fullest,” he explained. “(Dad) was a good guy, always was having fun joking around. If he wanted us to be happy, why would we just grieve him all the time when you can laugh instead of crying?”
Boynton-Fisher – who earned Division 3 all-state honorable mention last season – is known as “TBF” by many. He’s taken the nickname in honor of his father’s initials. Toby was the owner and operator of the Traverse City Golf Center. He also was known for his sense of humor.
Today, TBF’s coaches describe him as a pretty loose, easy-going kid loved by his teammates. They are quick to add he has prototypical goalie build features – long arms and legs – with incredible hand-eye coordination.
Competitiveness is his major strength, along with his demeanor and character. His coaches believe he’s the best Division 3 goalie in Michigan. Continuing the Reps’ run will bring Boynton-Fisher much deserved recognition, they say.
“His best quality is just his competitiveness, and he's very athletic too,” pointed out Reps coach Mike Matteucci, who also played in the NHL and was on the 1994 NCAA national champion Lake Superior State hockey team. “He loves the heat of the moment. He's just a very fiery, competitive person who wants to win.”
Matteucci grew up in the same area of British Columba as Drake and played against Drake as well. He too believes TBF can play professional hockey someday.
“It takes being in a situation where everybody's doing well and you get noticed,” he said. “He's durable, and I think he does have a good opportunity to continue to play with the attitude that he has and not getting too rattled in that spot.”
Fisher-Boynton leads Division 3 goalies in most stat categories. He’s top in goals-against average at 1.22, save percentage at .929, and shoutouts with six. He’s the Reps career shutout record-holder and the winningest goalie in the co-op’s history.
He’d like to add a Finals championship too.
TBF is a captain, rare for a goalie in Reps history. He owns the program record for most wins for a career, now at 38, the career shutout record of 12 and the single-season shutout records of five.
Really, the only program record he doesn’t own is for wins in a season. He had 16 his sophomore year, which is second all-time.
Boynton-Fischer and his older brother Thomas were both selected as Rookie of the Year by the Reps’ coaching staff after their respective first years in the program, and their names are stacked on the plaque.
Longtime assistant coach and former Reps head coach Ryan Fedorinchik recalls vividly the first time TBF was exposed to high school hockey. His new teammates, led by Thomas, gave him a quick orientation during a summertime skate.
They pretty much scored at will that day, but never again. It didn’t take long for Fedorinchik to believe the Reps had a top-notch goalie.
“I didn't know to what level Tyler's competitive nature was, and once the season started, it became immediately apparent that he was not only incredibly athletic, but extremely competitive,” Fedorinchik said. Fast forward to the end of the season and we go to the final four, and Tyler had a great year.”
Matteucci is hoping the Reps continue to improve with their record-setting goalie. Marquette, Houghton, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, East Grand Rapids, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Dearborn Divine Child are the other Division 3 quarterfinalists.
“As a coaching staff we like to talk about improvement and putting us in a situation where at the end of the year we've improved, and we have a chance,” Matteucci asserted. “If we're playing like we can, we have an opportunity for sure.”
The Reps are 15-12-1 on the season, coming off a 3-1 win over Petoskey in the Regional Final. Colton Davidson, Thatcher Beaudoin and Madden Pateman all scored against Petoskey. Picking up two assists was Chase Kent, while Luke Schulte, Jake Ingersoll and Nolan Ziecina each had one helper.
Boynton-Fisher stopped 22 shots in the Regional Final.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse Bay Reps goalie Tyler Boynton-Fischer guards his team’s net during a game this season. (Middle) Boynton-Fischer “kick-saves” in the Stanley Cup in 2008. (Below) Boynton-Fischer stands tall for the Reps, who have advanced to a Saturday Quarterfinal. (Action shot courtesy of the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Other photos are courtesy of the Boynton-Fischer family.)
Injury in Past, Escanaba Standout Plays On
January 1, 2016
By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half
ESCANABA – Speeding down the ice chasing a puck into the corner is just a routine part of hockey.
Don't tell that to Dylan Gauthier of the Escanaba High School hockey team. He knows a lot can go wrong in just an instant as that skidding black sphere bounces along the ice.
As a freshman Feb. 7, 2013, in Chelsea, Gauthier was in hot puck pursuit when he was seriously injured in a freakish, non-contact incident that cost the three-sport athlete the rest of his hockey season. He suffered a broken right leg (tibia and fibula) and severed his right Achilles tendon when his skate hit a patch of ice and he ended up crashing into the boards.
"I was chasing a loose puck and I lost my edge and hit the boards (feet first)," Gauthier said Wednesday in his Soo Hill home shortly before the Eskymos would play Painesdale-Jeffers. "I hit the boards hard. I looked down and saw a hole in my leg. I knew something was wrong."
As he crashed into the boards, the blade on his left skate rammed into his right ankle and severed the Achilles tendon. "No one was there; I just kind of lost it," he said.
He instantly was in pain, "then I didn't feel anything. There was a lot of blood," he said, indicating he soon went into shock and his leg went numb, which was probably a blessing during an aftermath that eventually included a trip to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor.
"I was kind of out of it at first, but I knew it was bad," he said, recalling teammates would come to him and quickly leave once they saw the damage.
The mother of one of his teammates, T.J. Myrick, came onto the ice and wrapped the completely lacerated wound in her scarf in hopes of stopping the bleeding.
His parents, Mark and Mary, were home listening to the game on the radio and they quickly hit U.S. 2 and headed downstate at 9 p.m., a trip that took 10 hours thanks to a good blizzard. They were approaching the Mackinac Bridge about the time surgery began on the Achilles. Surgery on the broken bones took place a week later, with two screws inserted that will remain in his leg.
Dylan recalls listening to the rest of the game broadcast in the hospital as he awaited surgery. The next day his teammates visited, but were allowed only in small groups and for a brief time. They gave him a hockey stick signed by each player and a team photo with the sister of a teammate, Jaylyn Dagenais, standing where he would have been.
He wasn't aware of the Achilles damage until reaching the hospital, and remembers thinking about what the athletic future held for him. "What happens next, what is the next step," he said, an indication that mentally he was in good spirits despite the major physical injuries.
After the surgery he learned the skate slice was very close to a major artery, which could have created even more serious damage.
Tim McCarthy, then in his final season as Escanaba head coach, said recently "when he went down I remember watching him on the ice, and he grabbed his leg right away. There was quite a bit of blood coming out, and we tried to get anything we could find to wrap his leg and stop the bleeding."
He said Gauthier's leg "snapped over the back of the skate and caught in there and wouldn't come out. There was nowhere to go but in (the tendon)."
McCarthy remembers that up until that injury Gauthier had exhibited typical freshman issues, noting, "Dylan was a little timid going into the corners. I had his cousin (Nick Vandermissen) pushing him to get more aggressive."
Gauthier, one of seven freshmen on that team, was on a line with Vandermissen and Levi Wunder, two of the best players in the program's 30-year history. "He was progressing well. He was starting to make strides. He always had talent, but he needed a mindset to go out and do what was asked of him and not be timid," said McCarthy.
"He is an athlete, and a good one. He is very good at what he does. He rebounded real well and works real hard."
McCarthy said it was fortunate the injury happened at the MPS Showcase, a huge midseason tournament, because it was so close to Ann Arbor. "They took care of him right away," he said.
The Eskymos handled the adversity very well, McCarthy said of winning two of the three weekend games: "We went down there to prove a point and try to get the respect we should have been getting. Nick had a tough time with it, but the team seemed more determined that weekend to do something for Dylan. They played a little harder after that."
Matt Hughes, the current Escanaba head coach, said Gauthier "has responded pretty well to that freak injury. He is not letting it overtake him mentally. Being a young athlete, his body responded well and he was able to get back. The physical part was probably easier to overcome than the mental part, but it will always be in the back of your mind."
Gauthier missed the final 13 games of what became a school-record 24-4 season. He is in his fourth season on the varsity and helped the team reach the Division 2 Semifinals in 2014-15. "The kids are working hard. They want to get back to where we were at last year," said Hughes.
Gauthier has four goals and three assists this season as the Eskymos have built a 7-3 start. They return to Chelsea Jan. 28-30.
Gauthier also plays golf and football for the Eskymos. In fact, he was playing golf 82 days after the injury while wearing a brace and basically playing off one leg. Still, he earned second-team All-Upper Peninsula honors. He has been an all-U.P. first-team all-star the past two years and received some interest from college golf teams.
Golf is his favorite sport, which makes sense because his parents and brother Mark are also excellent golfers. Mark plays at Finlandia University in Hancock.
Playing golf that soon was difficult because it was hard to pivot on his right foot at first. He did not start running until shortly before football practice began, then returned as a running back for the junior varsity and scored three touchdowns against Gladstone.
He played on the varsity the last two years and noted that making cuts on the gridiron was the hardest part of his athletic recovery.
His mother has been pleased with how Dylan handled the injury and rehabilitation. "He has a laid-back attitude. That is why it didn't bother him," she said. "The whole thing affected us more than it did him."
He said, "mentally I was fine. I never thought about it out there (while playing any sport), but it was a little weird at first. I just blew it away. The chance of it happening again is kind of slim."
A fund-raiser directed by Bill LaMarch helped raise money for the team to purchase Kevlar socks, which go up to the knee and should prevent a skate from penetrating to the leg.
After the injury, Gauthier wore a long-leg cast with a window left open for the Achilles and was on crutches for a month, then had a boot cast. He did his rehab at Northwood Rehabilitation in Escanaba under the direction of physical therapist Marge Haslow. "She helped a lot, she got me through it all," he said. "She made you do your stuff. There were no easy days in there."
As his high school career begins winding down, Gauthier realizes he was very fortunate to come through such a freakish and serious injury with missing just over one month of his three-sport career.
"I've accomplished a lot. I know I could not have played at all," he said, relief obvious in his voice.
Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.
PHOTOS: (Top) Escanaba's Dylan Gauthier controls the puck during his team's game against Painesdale-Jeffers on Wednesday. (Middle) Gauthier (2) suffered a painful injury during a game at Chelsea as a freshman in 2013 that required multiple surgeries. (Top photo and head shot by Dennis Grall; middle photo by Jack Hall.)