Georges Boucher

"George Boucher" redirects here. For Canadian politician and barrister, see George Russell Boucher.

John Georges "Buck" Boucher (August 19, 1895 – October 17, 1960) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Maroons, and Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey League (NHL) between 1915 and 1932. In 1921, he became the first defenceman to record a hat-trick in an NHL playoff game.

Georges Boucher
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1960
Born	(1895-08-19)August 19, 1895 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Died	October 17, 1960(1960-10-17) (aged 65)
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

Personal life

Tom Boucher, while a rugby football player at Ottawa College in the 1890s

Georges was born in Ottawa, Ontario, to Tom Boucher and Annie Carroll. His paternal grandfather, Antoine Boucher, was French while his other grandparents were of Irish descent. His father played rugby football for Ottawa College and for the Ottawa Rough Riders, winning the Canadian championship in 1894, 1896, 1897 and 1901.

His younger brothers Billy, Bob and Frank also became professional ice hockey players.^[1] There were two other brothers, Carroll and Joseph, and two sisters, Irene and Lily.

In October 1916, Boucher enlisted with the Canadian military, joining the 207th (Ottawa-Carleton) Battalion, though he was discharged in December that year for unclear reasons. He re-enlisted in May 1917, this time joining the Signal Training Department. He was again discharged, as a medical exam found him to have mitral regurgitation, making Boucher unfit to be a soldier.^[2]

His son, Frank Boucher, was the head coach of Canada's 1948 Olympic gold medal-winning ice hockey team – the Ottawa RCAF Flyers.^[3][4]

Hockey career

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.

He played as an amateur with the Ottawa Aberdeens, and the New Edinburghs and Royal Canadians of the Ottawa City Hockey League.

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 played against his brother Frank in the 1923 Stanley Cup playoffs, which also featured brothers Cy and Corbett Denneny playing against each other. It marked the first time two different sets of brothers faced each other in an NHL or Big Four championship series.^[1]

Boucher helped lead the Senators to four Stanley Cup championships 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 and St. Louis. He coached the Ottawa Senators of the Quebec Hockey League, winning the Allan Cup in 1949.^[5]

He suffered from throat cancer for six years and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, three weeks before he died.^[5]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1913–14	Ottawa New Edinburghs	IPAHU		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

National Hockey League

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
Montreal Maroons	1930-31	12	6	5	1	(46)	3rd in Canadian	Lost in league quarter-finals (1-8 vs. NYR)
Ottawa Senators	1933-34	48	13	29	6	32	5th in Canadian	Did not qualify
St. Louis Eagles	1934-35	35	9	20	6	(28)	5th in Canadian	Did not qualify
Boston Bruins	1949-50	70	22	32	16	60	5th in NHL	Did not qualify
NHL totals		165	50	86	29	129		0-2 (0.000)

Canadian-American Hockey League

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
Boston Cubs	1932-33	48	21	18	9	51	3rd in CAHL	Won in league semi-finals (2-0 vs. PRO) Won Fontaine Cup (3-2 vs. PHI)
Springfield Indians	1935-36	48	21	22	5	47	3rd in CAHL	Lost in league semi-finals (1-2 vs. PRO)
CAHL totals		96	42	40	14	98		6-4 (0.600 - 1 Fontaine Cup)

International-American Hockey League

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
Springfield Indians	1936-37	48	22	17	9	53	2nd in East	Won in division semi-finals (2-1 vs. PRO) Lost in division finals (0-2 vs. PHI)
Springfield Indians	1937-38	48	10	30	8	28	4th in East	Did not qualify
IAHL totals		96	32	47	17	81		2-3 (0.400)

Quebec Provincial Hockey League

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
Quebec Castors	1939-40	41	13	25	3	29	8th in QPHL	Did not qualify
QPHL totals		41	13	25	3	29		0-0 (0.000)

Quebec Senior Hockey League

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Division rank	Result
Ottawa Senators	1946-47	40	26	10	4	56	1st in QSHL	Won league semi-finals (3-1 vs. SF) Lost league finals (2-4-1 vs. MTL)
Ottawa Senators	1947-48	48	35	11	2	72	1st in QSHL	Won league semi-finals (4-3 vs. SF) Won league finals (4-1 vs. QUE) Won Quebec Senior Playoffs (2-1 vs. VIC) Won Eastern Canada Allan Cup Playoffs (3-2-1 vs. HAM) Lost Allan Cup finals (1-4 vs.EDM)
QSHL totals		88	61	21	6	128		19-16-2 (0.541)

NHL Records (1)

• Most goals, defenceman, playoff game: 3 (tied with 10 other players) on March 10, 1921^[6]