Boulton from Boulton
Longtime Bearcat hockey fans will remember a time when a goal could have been scored - and likely was on a couple of occasions – by Frame from Boulton and Boulton … or some combination thereof.
The three former players would be Brookfield native Randy Frame as well as brothers Matt and Josh Boulton, who hailed from the Halifax Regional Municipality. Ironically, Josh and Frame have swapped locales, while Matt is across the globe in South Korea.
The former teammates recently came together online to take part in a podcast the Boulton brothers conduct called Boulton from Boulton.
“Like a goal,” Matt said of coming up with the name of the podcast which they started last spring, around the time the NHL bubble playoffs started.
“Basically, we like to talk at the TV when we’re watching hockey,” Josh said about the origins of the podcast. “We’ll make comments in text messages to each other; ‘what was he thinking? What do you think about this roster change?’ That sort of thing and so, we thought, why don’t we let everyone listen to what we’re talking about and see what they say about it too … just regular hockey talk.”
Both were already doing solo podcasts; Matt’s unrelated to hockey and Josh’s more of an analysis of safety – breaking down illegal checks and similar scenarios.
The idea to bring in a third voice as a guest was only made recently and Frame, who does a podcast himself on fast pitch, was a logical choice, the brothers said.
“The two of us we were enjoying talking to each other, but we also thought it could be fun to have on various people and get different perspectives on the game,” Matt said. “Randy was a good choice because I had been in contact with him recently and we talked about our podcasts. He was an easy guy to pick on first, we knew he would be fun to talk to and he has a great memory.”
Josh said it was like they were back in the dressing room or on the ice, giving each other a hard time as only teammates can.
“The fun is, you talk and make fun of each other, and who better to do that with than former teammates?” Josh asked with a chuckle. “Where Randy is an experienced podcaster, we talk a lot and we knew it would be easier having him on so we could get our feet wet interviewing. As well, he was one of the funnier teammates we remembered; a guy who would have a lot of stuff to offer. And that played out on the podcast too.”
The trio played together for the Bearcats from 1997 to 1999 with Josh having one more season than the other two. The 1997-98 was the first year of the current junior A incarnation of the Bearcats.
“I think about the lifestyle, living there,” Matt said. “The community, going to the rink with the boys and then what it was like to live in a billet home in Truro; the whole experience. And that is what I want to recapture when I talk to guys like Randy, and I did. Get back to what it was like being in the community and, of course, the hockey. There is nothing more fun than playing hockey in front of people who care about it … that was always a big part of it.”
Josh had a similar take. “Something I really appreciated about the Truro Bearcats’ organization, in particular, was the community involvement,” he said, noting participating in the Christmas parade as a good example. “You were going to school or they found you a job; you weren’t just sitting at home and waking up at 2 in the afternoon because you had nowhere else to be.”
Josh also remembered the supportive fans whom he described as “knowledgeable” and “appreciative.”
“And you could feel that on the street walking around where people would recognize and talk to you; just the whole atmosphere it created,” he said. “And it wasn’t just when things were going well; you didn’t go to the rink trying to win people over, you had already won them over because they wanted you to succeed. So, when you went to the rink, it wasn’t you putting on a show for them, it was them carrying you. That was something I found really special about that time.”