Buck Boucher
Encyclopedia
Georges "Buck" Boucher 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.
, 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.
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 Cup
s 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.
OCHL refers to Ottawa City Hockey League.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
defenceman who played for the Ottawa Senators
Ottawa Senators (original)
The Ottawa Senators were an amateur, and later, professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934...
, Montreal Maroons
Montreal Maroons
The Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935...
, and Chicago Black Hawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
in the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
. Born in Ottawa, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Buck was one of six brothers. His brothers Frank
Frank Boucher
François-Xavier "Raffles" Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive. Boucher played the forward position for the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League and the Vancouver Maroons in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association...
, Bobby
Robert Boucher
Robert James "Bobby" Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played one season in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens. He won a Stanley Cup in 1924 with Montreal...
and Billy
Billy Boucher
William Martin Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger.Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he played in the National Hockey League for the Hamilton Tigers, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and New York Americans. He also played for the New Haven Eagles and Bronx Tigers of the...
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
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...
of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
. 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 grand-parents were Irish in descent. His brothers BillyBilly Boucher
William Martin Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger.Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he played in the National Hockey League for the Hamilton Tigers, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and New York Americans. He also played for the New Haven Eagles and Bronx Tigers of the...
, Bob
Robert Boucher
Robert James "Bobby" Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played one season in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens. He won a Stanley Cup in 1924 with Montreal...
and Frank
Frank Boucher
François-Xavier "Raffles" Boucher was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive. Boucher played the forward position for the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League and the Vancouver Maroons in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association...
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
Ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics
In Ice hockey at the 1948 Winter Olympics, Team Canada returned to its dominance, winning their fourth Gold Medal out of the first five Olympic Games.-Rival United States teams:...
gold medal winning ice hockey team - the Ottawa RCAF Flyers.
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
Eddie Gerard
Edward George Gerard was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada he played professionally for 10 seasons for the hometown Ottawa Senators and was member of several Stanley Cup-winning teams before retiring as a player in 1923...
, Horrace Merrill, Sprague Cleghorn
Sprague Cleghorn
Henry William Sprague "Peg" Cleghorn, , was a Canadian professional hockey player from Westmount who played for the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Renfrew Creamery Kings and Toronto St. Patricks in the National Hockey Association and National Hockey League...
, Lionel Hitchman
Lionel Hitchman
Frederick Lionel Hitchman was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins....
and King Clancy
King Clancy
Francis Michael "King" Clancy was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, referee, coach and executive. Clancy played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. He was a member of three Stanley Cup championship teams and won All-Star honours...
.
Boucher helped lead the Senators to four Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
s 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
Ottawa Senators (senior hockey)
The Ottawa Senators, also known as the Ottawa Commandos and Senior Senators, was an amateur, later semi-professional, senior-level men's ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada...
of the Quebec Hockey League to the Allan Cup in 1949.
He suffered from throat cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
for six years and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...
in 1960, just three weeks before he died.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an... |
Team | League | GP | G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to... |
A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal... |
Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one... |
PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,... |
GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1914–15 | Ottawa New Edinburghs | OCHL | 15 | 12 | 0 | 12 | ||||||
| 1914–15 | Ottawa Royal Canadians | OCHL | 4 | 6 | 0 | 6 | ||||||
| 1915–16 | Ottawa Senators Ottawa Senators (original) The Ottawa Senators were an amateur, and later, professional, ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Canada which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934... |
NHA National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League... |
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 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 1920–21 | Ottawa Senators* | NHL | 23 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 53 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 19 |
| 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 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 1923–24 | Ottawa Senators | NHL | 23 | 13 | 10 | 23 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 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 | 24 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 58 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 1928–29 | Ottawa Senators | NHL | 29 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 60 | |||||
| 1928–29 | Montreal Maroons Montreal Maroons The Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935... |
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 Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10... |
NHL | 43 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 50 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| NHL totals: | 449 | 117 | 87 | 204 | 838 | 28 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 88 | ||
- *Stanley Cup championship season
OCHL refers to Ottawa City Hockey League.