Brock Boeser, Baylee Bjorge friendship goes beyond publicized prom

Baylee Bjorge’s senior prom emitted the sense of a culmination of a longstanding, loyal relationship with the North Dakota men’s hockey program.

Beyond the fleeting mass media attention, however, the last six months have marked a continuation of the usual.

In May of this year, UND’s then-freshman standout, Brock Boeser, grabbed headlines by taking the Grand Forks Central High School student to her prom. The two reconnected in September when the Fighting Hawks volunteered at the state’s Special Olympics, where Bjorge is a decorated competitor.

Bjorge had originally made two Instagram accounts to message Boeser about the prom, but both were deleted before Boeser could respond. However, he was quick to track down Bjorge.

“I showed my friends from Grand Forks and asked if it was serious,” he recalled in an interview with Pucks and Recreation, “and one of my friends got me in contact with her mom to see.”

A couple of months later, Bjorge was escorted to the prom by Boeser. The Burnsville, Minn., native had flown to Grand Forks from the Twin Cities specifically for that purpose.

Bjorge’s mother, Katie Marcotte, was stunned by the gesture.

“I wasn’t so sure of who he was,” she remarked to P&R, “but my (three sons) were in shock because of the gesture.”

Being close to the North Dakota hockey team is nothing new to Bjorge, who met and got to know world-class talents Jonathan Toews and T.J. Oshie during their time in Grand Forks. In addition, as the Grand Forks Herald reported in May, forward Colten St. Clair was on hand for her high school commencement.

Boeser’s gesture, however, was a far cry from what she was used to.

“The UND boys are always good to Baylee, but this was special,” said Marcotte. “He still checks in on her.”

According to Marcotte, Boeser regularly reaches out to Bjorge through text messages and facetime to ask about her day. Bjorge responds in kind, wishing the entire team luck before each game.

This past summer, Boeser and the Fighting Hawks got their chance to play the reverse role when they volunteered at Special Olympics North Dakota, where he could reconnect with Bjorge in person. Bjorge, a volleyball player who has Down Syndrome, was named the SOND female athlete of the year in 2015. At the 2016 games, she made the youth division’s all-tournament team while representing the Grand Forks Falcons.

Working with the Special Olympics is nothing new to the Fighting Hawks, who do it every year and consider it an honor. Boeser admits that he did not originally know about Bjorge’s athletic ability, but added, “Everyone knows her in Grand Forks, and I found out from a friend.”

Athletic activity has long been a key component in Bjorge’s life. Until it became too competitive, she had previously played organized sports with her peers in the public school system. This helped her ability to interact with her local community in general, leading to such social honors as Homecoming Queen.

Combining that foundation with her connection to Boeser as part of a support system, her maturity has come a long way since she first met Boeser, according to Marcotte.

“From the bottom of my heart, I knew it was the right thing to do,” said Boeser. “I wanted it to be low-key, but it just kind of blew up.”

Marcotte went further than that, describing how far Boeser went to make sure that Bjorge got whatever she wanted when it come to the prom.

“He is a genuine, selfless young man,” she said. “When all of the media wanted to do interviews and talk to Brock about taking Baylee to prom, he told them that he wasn’t the one that they should be concentrating on. He said that they should talk to Baylee because this is about her, not him.

“He also let Baylee set all of the plans for prom, dismissing any agenda that he might have. The way he handled this publicity was very mature, and set him above most 19-year-old young men.”