| Dennis Bonvie | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 23, 1973 Antigonish, NS, CAN |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Weight | 205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb) |
| Position | Right wing |
| Shot | Right |
| Played for | NHL Edmonton Oilers Chicago Blackhawks Pittsburgh Penguins Boston Bruins Ottawa Senators Colorado Avalanche AHL Cape Breton Oilers Hamilton Bulldogs Portland Pirates Philadelphia Phantoms Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Providence Bruins Binghamton Senators Hershey Bears |
| NHL Draft | Undrafted |
| Playing career | 1993–2008 |
Dennis Kevin Bonvie (born July 23, 1973) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player, most notable for being the most penalized player in professional hockey history with 4,804 career professional career penalty minutes (most of it being in the American Hockey League). He is currently a pro scout for the NHL Chicago Blackhawks.
Contents |
While Bonvie, a 5'11", 205-pound right winger, had appeared in 92 National Hockey League games with six different NHL teams since he turned pro in 1993 with the Edmonton Oilers, he spent the vast majority of his career in the American Hockey League in which he played with eight different clubs. Bonvie was known for a physical style of play and his primary role as the enforcer for his various teams. In his 92 NHL games, he recorded 311 PIMs.
As a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs in 1997, Bonvie established a then-single season AHL record for penalty minutes (PIM) with 522, a mark which stood for eight seasons before being eclipsed in 2004–05 by Brian McGrattan of the Binghamton Senators with 551. Bonvie's eventual career AHL penalty minute total, 4,493 minutes (in just 871 regular season games) was a remarkable 1,553 more than Rob Murray's second overall career AHL record high total 2,940 PIM in 1,018 games over fifteen seasons.[1] During the 2008 season, Bonvie surpassed Kevin Evans for the most career penalty minutes in professional hockey history.
Bonvie's first and only NHL goal was scored when he was a member of the Boston Bruins. Bonvie had captured the puck at the blue line and let a hard slapshot go right at the top of the faceoff circle. He beat Chris "Ozzy" Osgood, who was playing for the St.Louis Blues at the time, fivehole. After Dennis had scored, he went by Osgood and said jokingly, "I think it's time you better retire."
The Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, home of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, is often called the "house that Bonvie built."[2]
In the 2007–08 season, he played as a member of the Eastern Conference champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins before eventually losing the 2008 Calder Cup in six games to the Chicago Wolves. Bonvie retired after the season.[3]
Bonvie's younger brother Herb also played pro hockey but is now retired. Bonvie currently operates the Dennis Bonvie Hockey Camp in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
September 27, 1995 Chicago Blackhawks vs. Edmonton Oilers* against Bob Probert. Bonvie took on Bob Probert for the second time. Bonvie had already fought Probert ten days earlier, but fared much better in this fight. Probert has been retired since 2002.
November 4, 1995 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Edmonton Oilers* against Tie Domi. Bonvie was still trying to make a name for himself when he asked Heavyweight, Tie Domi, to have a little dance with him. Domi had accepted and they had a very entertaining fight. Bonvie felt that the fight was very close even though Domi did a lot of showboating after the fight.
March 22, 1998 Hamilton Bulldogs* vs. Rochester Americans (AHL) against Peter Vandermeer. Bonvie had set the AHL record for PIMS this year and one fight that helped him get there was the war against "Pistol" Pete Vandermeer. The fight lasted over a minute of nonstop toe-to-toe action. Later in the same game, two brawls occurred and there was a total of 359 PIMS handed out to both teams.
November 14, 1998 Chicago Blackhawks* vs. Buffalo Sabres against Rob Ray. This fight was the first of three between the two. They had dropped the mitts at center ice and before long, Bonvie knocked out with a huge bomb from Ray. This was probably not one of Bonvie's favorite battles, but it was memorable. Bonvie would later ask Ray to fight two more times in the same period, but Ray did not want to.
December 26, 1999 Pittsburgh Penguins* vs. Chicago Blackhawks against Ryan VandenBussche. Bonvie was appearing in his first game in a Penguins uniform, when VandenBussche challenged him right off an in-zone faceoff only a couple minutes into the first period. The two undersized heavyweights went toe-to-toe in a fight.
November 5, 2004 Hershey Bears* vs. Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL) against Josh Gratton. This was the second of many battle against Gratton. The fight lasted 40 seconds but in those seconds were 47 punches thrown between the two fighters. Gratton currently plays in the KHL.
March 30, 2005 Hershey Bears* vs. Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins (AHL) against Ryan VandenBussche. The fight lasted 2:12 and set the Pens record for longest fight. This was the final fight of their rivalry with it being definitely the best. Tom Grace calls the fight:
January 20, 2007 Norfolk Admirals vs. Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins* (AHL) against David Koci. The rivalry between Bonvie and Koci took itself to a new level. This was their seventh fight out of a total of eight.
December 26, 2007 Syracuse Crunch vs. Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins* (AHL) against Jon Mirasty. Ten minutes into the first period, these two decided to drop the mitts for the first time. The fight lasted 1:30 and constant punches thrown in this amazing toe-to-toe marathon. There were about 95 punches thrown and many of them connected. They fought two more times.
March 8, 2008 Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins* vs. Syracuse Crunch (AHL) against Jon "Nasty" Mirasty. The final fight between the two undersized heavyweights occurred five minutes into the second period. This time the fight lasted just under a minute, but there was still real quick action in the fight.
April 20, 2008 – Hershey Bears vs. Wilkes-Barre Scranton* (AHL) against Louis Robitaille. Bonvie took on the most hated player of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Pens' fans. This was Bonvie's last fight of his career. Robitaille dropped the mitts and agreed to fight but he later bailed to the ice.
* indicates what team Bonvie was playing for during the fights.
Bonvie recently opened three restaurants in Northeastern Pennsylvania including Bonvie's Old Forge Pizza Express, Bonvie's Beefy King, and Bonvie's Blue Chip Gourmet.[4][5]
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1991–92 | Kitchener Rangers | OHL | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1991–92 | North Bay Centennials | OHL | 49 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 261 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 91 | ||
| 1992–93 | North Bay Centennials | OHL | 64 | 3 | 21 | 24 | 316 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | ||
| 1993–94 | Cape Breton Oilers | AHL | 63 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 278 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | ||
| 1994–95 | Cape Breton Oilers | AHL | 74 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 422 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1994–95 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1995–96 | Cape Breton Oilers | AHL | 38 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 269 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1995–96 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1996–97 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 73 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 522 | 22 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 91 | ||
| 1997–98 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 57 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 295 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 18 | ||
| 1997–98 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1998–99 | Portland Pirates | AHL | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1998–99 | Philadelphia Phantoms | AHL | 37 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 158 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 26 | ||
| 1998–99 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1999–00 | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | AHL | 42 | 5 | 26 | 31 | 243 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1999–00 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2000–01 | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | AHL | 65 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 221 | 21 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 35 | ||
| 2000–01 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001–02 | Providence Bruins | AHL | 55 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 290 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001–02 | Boston Bruins | NHL | 23 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 84 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | Binghamton Senators | AHL | 51 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 311 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 85 | ||
| 2002–03 | Ottawa Senators | NHL | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 | Binghamton Senators | AHL | 29 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 137 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 | Hershey Bears | AHL | 30 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 154 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 | Colorado Avalanche | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2004–05 | Hershey Bears | AHL | 76 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 357 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005–06 | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | AHL | 70 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 431 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | ||
| 2006–07 | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | AHL | 58 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 186 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 2007–08 | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | AHL | 50 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 203 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17 | ||
| NHL totals | 92 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 311 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| AHL totals | 871 | 84 | 191 | 275 | 4493 | 98 | 9 | 27 | 36 | 353 | ||||