Dennis Bonvie

Dennis Bonvie
Born (1973-07-23) July 23, 1973
Antigonish, NS, CAN
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
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 Boston Bruins.

Playing career

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.

On October 12, 1993, as a rookie with the Cape Breton Oilers Bonvie was involved in his first professional fight in the AHL against Jamie Huscroft of the Providence Bruins. On September 17, 1995 during his first pre-season game with the Edmonton Oilers Bonvie dropped the gloves with Bob Probert of the Chicago Blackhawks. On October 8, 1995, Bonvie was credited with his first NHL fight taking on Stu Grimson of the Detroit Red Wings. 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 New York Islanders 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]

On December 26, 2007 in front of a sold out home crowd, Bonvie was involved in a toe-to-toe style fight with Jon Mirasty of the Syracuse Crunch. The fight lasted 1 minute and 30 seconds with both players trading multiple punches.

On April 12, 2008, Bonvie would dress in his last regular season game. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton captain Nathan Smith honored Bonvie by giving him the captain's "C" for his final game. Bonvie was involved in a fight that night taking on Jay Rosehill of the Norfolk Admirals. After the fight was over, Rosehill rose Bonvie's hand as a sign of respect and told him "it was an honor to fight him".[3]

On April 20, 2008, in an AHL playoff game against the Hershey Bears, Bonvie was involved in his final career scrap against agitator Louis Robitaille. This specific fight had been much anticipated as Bonvie had asked Robitaille to fight multiple times throughout the season.

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.[4] Bonvie currently operates the Dennis Bonvie Hockey Camp in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Restaurateur

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.[5][6]

Career statistics

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

References

  1. ↑ "AHL Hall of Fame". AHL. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  2. ↑ "Around the AHL". AHL. 2002-03-20. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  3. ↑ "Bonvie says goodbye". The Times Leader. 2008-04-13. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  4. ↑ "Bonvie nearing the end of the road". AHL. 2008-04-12. Archived from the original on April 14, 2008. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  5. ↑ "Bonvie: From ice to a slice". The Pittston Dispatch. 2010-01-03. Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
  6. ↑ "Former SWB Penguin Bonvie opens Beefy King restaurant in W-B". The Times–Tribune. 2010-06-08. Retrieved 2010-07-22.
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