George Boucher

George "Buck" Boucher (August 19, 1896 – October 17, 1960) was a Canadian professional 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 five brothers. His brothers Frank, Joe, Bobby and Billy all played in the NHL.

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.

Hockey Career
He played as an amateur with the Ottawa Aberdeens, the Ottawa New Edinburgh and Ottawa Royal Canadiens of the Ottawa City Senior 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 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 Senior 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

 * *Stanley Cup championship season

Trivia

 * George Boucher became the first defenseman in NHL playoff history to score a Hat trick, doing so in the 5-0 win in Game 1 of the 1921 NHL Championship.