Georges Boucher

Georges Boucher
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1960
Born	(1896-08-19)August 19, 1896 Ottawa, ON, CAN
Died	October 17, 1960(1960-10-17) (aged 64)
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight	169 lb (77 kg; 12 st 1 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Left
Played for	Ottawa Senators Montreal Maroons Chicago Black Hawks
Playing career	1915–1933

John Georges "Buck" Boucher (August 19, 1896 – October 17, 1960) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Maroons, and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Buck was one of six brothers. His brothers Frank, Bobby and Billy all played in the NHL. Their father Tom Boucher, played rugby football, winning the Canadian championship in 1894, 1896, 1897 and 1901. Boucher started his professional athletic career in football as halfback for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League. After three years of football he switched to hockey.

Personal life

Georges was one of six sons born to Tom Boucher and Annie Carroll. His paternal grandfather, Antoine Boucher was French while his other grandparents were Irish in descent. His brothers Billy, Bob and Frank would also become professional ice hockey players. There were two other brothers, Carroll and Joseph, and two sisters, Irene and Lily. Their father played rugby football, winning the Canadian championship in 1894, 1896, 1897 and 1901.

Buck's son, Sgt. Frank Boucher, was the head coach of Canada's 1948 Olympic gold medal winning ice hockey team - the Ottawa RCAF Flyers.^[1]^[2]

Hockey career

He played as an amateur with the Ottawa Aberdeens and the New Edinburghs and Royal Canadians of the Ottawa City Hockey League teams. He started play with the Senators, then of the NHA, in 1915. At the time, he played as a forward.

Boucher would soon switch to play as a defenceman where he would gain fame as an excellent stick handler. He would play with stars such as Eddie Gerard, Horrace Merrill, Sprague Cleghorn, Lionel Hitchman and King Clancy.

Boucher helped lead the Senators to four Stanley Cups between 1920 and 1927. He played in the NHL from 1917 to 1932, scoring 117 goals and 87 recorded assists in 449 games. An extremely tough customer, he also had 838 penalty minutes, including 115 in just 44 games in 1926–27. At his retirement in 1932 he ranked 11th among NHL career points leaders.

He would go on to coach in the NHL in Ottawa, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago. He would coach the Ottawa Senators of the Quebec Hockey League to the Allan Cup in 1949.

He suffered from throat cancer for six years and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, just three weeks before he died.

Career statistics

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1913–14	Ottawa New Edinburghs	Exhib.	5	1	0	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
1914–15	Ottawa New Edinburghs	OCHL	15	12	0	12	—	1	0	0	0	—
1914–15	Ottawa Royal Canadians	OCHL	4	6	0	6	—	2	2	0	2	—
1915–16	Montreal La Casquette	MCHL	1	1	0	1	0	—	—	—	—	—
1915–16	Ottawa Senators	NHA	19	9	1	10	62	—	—	—	—	—
1916–17	Ottawa Senators	NHA	18	10	5	15	27	2	1	0	1	8
1917–18	Ottawa Senators	NHL	21	9	8	17	46	—	—	—	—	—
1918–19	Ottawa Senators	NHL	17	3	2	5	29	5	2	0	2	9
1919–20	Ottawa Senators	NHL	22	9	8	17	55	—	—	—	—	—
1919–20	Ottawa Senators	St-Cup	—	—	—	—	—	5	2	0	2	2
1920–21	Ottawa Senators	NHL	23	11	8	19	53	2	3	0	3	10
1920–21	Ottawa Senators	St-Cup	—	—	—	—	—	5	2	0	2	9
1921–22	Ottawa Senators	NHL	23	13	12	25	12	2	0	0	0	4
1922–23	Ottawa Senators	NHL	24	14	9	23	58	2	0	1	1	2
1922–23	Ottawa Senators	St-Cup	—	—	—	—	—	6	2	1	3	6
1923–24	Ottawa Senators	NHL	21	13	10	23	38	2	0	1	1	4
1924–25	Ottawa Senators	NHL	28	15	5	20	95	—	—	—	—	—
1925–26	Ottawa Senators	NHL	36	8	4	12	64	2	0	0	0	10
1926–27	Ottawa Senators	NHL	40	8	3	11	115	6	0	0	0	43
1927–28	Ottawa Senators	NHL	43	7	5	12	78	2	0	0	0	4
1928–29	Ottawa Senators	NHL	29	3	1	4	60	—	—	—	—	—
1928–29	Montreal Maroons	NHL	12	1	1	2	10	—	—	—	—	—
1929–30	Montreal Maroons	NHL	37	2	6	8	50	3	0	0	0	2
1930–31	Montreal Maroons	NHL	30	0	0	0	25	—	—	—	—	—
1931–32	Chicago Black Hawks	NHL	43	1	5	6	30	2	0	1	1	0
1932–33	Boston Cubs	Can-Am	9	0	0	0	8	—	—	—	—	—
NHA totals			37	19	6	25	89	2	1	0	1	8
NHL totals			449	117	87	204	838	28	5	3	8	88
St-Cup totals			—	—	—	—	—	16	6	1	7	17

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
Team	Year	G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
Montreal Maroons	1930–31	12	6	5	1	(12)	3rd in Canadian	Lost in Quarter-Finals
Ottawa Senators	1933–34	48	13	29	6	32	5th in Canadian	Missed playoffs
St. Louis Eagles	1934–35	35	9	20	6	(24)	5th in Canadian	(Fired)
Boston Bruins	1949–50	70	22	32	16	70	5th in NHL	Missed playoffs
NHL Total		165	50	86	29

References

Globe and Mail. Toronto. October 16, 1960.

External links

Career statistics and player information from Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
Georges Boucher at Find a Grave

Preceded by Cy Denneny	Head Coach of the Ottawa Senators (Original Era) 1933–1934	Succeeded by Franchise relocates to become St. Louis Eagles
Preceded by Cy Denneny	Ottawa Senators captain (Original Era) 1926–28	Succeeded by King Clancy
Preceded by Dunc Munro	Head coach of the Montreal Maroons 1930–31	Succeeded by Sprague Cleghorn
Preceded by Dit Clapper	Head coach of the Boston Bruins 1949–50	Succeeded by Lynn Patrick

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.