Growing up, one of the players Nikolaj Boyle looked up to the most was center Robert Phelps, captain of the Hamilton Steelhawks. Phelps is a top tier SHL two-way forward who excels on both ends of the ice. He is strong on the puck and has crafted some of the flashiest passes the league has seen in recent years. It should not come as a surprise that Boyle, the young Latvian centerman, would attempt to emulate Phelps’ game.  

The two players share a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses. Nearly all of them, in fact. Both have prioritized passing and defense in their game to this point, though Boyle’s coaches in St. Louis have him working on improving his shot a lot lately. While Phelps’ third strength is strength itself, Boyle opted to go with faceoffs. As for their weaknesses, neither player has focused much on checking. For Boyle, these specializations are not exactly set in stone. The SMJHL rookie has apparently been toying around with the idea of switching things up sometime in the near future, “I pride myself on being an adaptable player. I want to be strong in every situation. The game up here is different than what I’m used to. Everybody is faster, stronger, better. If I find a way to change my game to smoothen things out, you bet I’ll be doing it.”

There’s no doubt that Boyle picked the right player to look up to. To attempt to emulate Robert Phelps is to aspire for greatness.