Wikipedia

Position	Right Wing
Shot	Left
Height Weight	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Pro clubs	Montreal Canadiens New York Rangers
Born	February 14, 1931(1931-02-14), Montréal, QC, CAN
Died	March 11, 2006 (aged 75), Atlanta, GA, USA
Pro career	1950 – 1968
Hall of Fame, 1972

Bernard Joseph André Geoffrion (February 16, 1931 – March 11, 2006), nicknamed "Boom Boom", was a Quebec professional ice hockey player and coach. Generally considered as one of the innovators of the slapshot [1], he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 following a 16-year career with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.

Playing career

Geoffrion was born in Montreal, Quebec, and began playing in the NHL in 1951. He earned the nickname "Boom Boom" for his thundering slapshot (which Geoffrion claimed to have 'invented' as a youngster [2]) from sportswriter Charlie Boire of the Montreal Star in the late 1940s while playing junior hockey for the Laval Nationale. He was the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, the first being teammate Maurice Richard. Half the time, he played left-wing on Montreal's front line with fellow superstars Richard and Jean Béliveau, helping the Canadiens to six Stanley Cup championships, and at other times was right wing on the No. 2 line.

Geoffrion had a hard time convincing the NHL of his considerable talents; Maurice Richard, Andy Bathgate (New York Rangers) and Gordie Howe (Detroit Red Wings) were so good that they overshadowed him.

Even after Geoffrion won the Art Ross Trophy as league scoring champion in 1955, NHL First All-Star honours went to Richard, while Geoffrion was named a Second Team All-Star. Geoffron had scored the goal on the Hab's last game of the season that won him the scoring title, which passed scoring leader Richard who had been suspended. Geoffrion's resulting anger at being named to the Second Team was nothing compared to the Montreal Forum fans who booed him for robbing crowd favourite Richard of the Art Ross Trophy. In the Stanley Cup finals, the Wings beat the Canadiens in seven games that year, the exact same result of the previous season. "I couldn't deliberately not score, that isn't the point of hockey, Montreal," complained Geoffrion, but fans regardless kept catcalling and jeering him. "I was so feeling the urge to vomit; I felt terrible," Geoffrion emotionally, admitted. "Even thinking about hockey made me feel bad, man did I want to leave. If it had not been for Jean (Béliveau) and Maurice (Richard) visiting, I would have. Usually, it's not too much to expect to be on the First (All-Star) Team when you have more points than anyone else."

In a testament to the rough-and-tumble style of play of that era, Geoffrion broke his nose six times, and received over 400 stitches. In 1958, a training accident severely injured him and his life was saved by emergency surgery. Despite advice from his doctors to stop playing for a season, Geoffrion was on the ice six weeks later to take part in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Geoffrion first retired in 1964, but returned two seasons later to play for the New York Rangers. Likely the reason for his first retirement was Béliveau getting appointed team captain in 1961, even though Béliveau was not one of the three alternate captains. This was following the Rocket's retirement in 1960 and Doug Harvey's trade to the Rangers in 1961 (he only lasted a year with the C). Geoffrion, who had had an A, was devastated by the decision to go with Béliveau. "If I didn't keep suffering all those terrible injuries and yet keep coming back, if I weren't fit to lead, would I have gotten the C and kept playing?" asked Geoffrion, who had, in the 1961 semifinals, had a hurt leg and insisted, even so, that Harvey cut a cast off it so he could play. "Yes, I think I would. There were times when everybody kept telling me to quit. My doctor even told me I should stop playing, but I came back."

In 1968 he finally retired as a player and became coach of the Rangers, a position he kept for less than a season due to stomach problems. In 1972 he became the first coach of the Atlanta Flames, and held the position for two and a half seasons, leading them to their first playoff appearance in 1974. He realized a longtime dream of coaching his beloved Canadiens in 1979, but his recurring stomach ailment forced him to step down mid-season.

In the 1970s and into the 1980s, Geoffrion appeared in several television commercials for Miller Lite beer, part of their stable of retired athletes-turned-spokesmen which also included Billy Martin and Bob Uecker.

Family

Geoffrion was the son of Jean-Baptiste Geoffrion, a restaurant owner, and his wife, Florina Poitras. He grew up in Drolet, a suburb east of Montreal. Geoffrion was a direct descendant of Pierre Joffrion and his wife Marie Priault, early French settlers in the colony of Montreal.¹ Marie Priault was a King's daughter.

Geoffrion's widow Marlene is the daughter of fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Howie Morenz and the granddaughter of the sister of Billy Coutu's wife, the first player kicked out the NHL for life. Marlene and Boom Boom Geoffrion's son, Dan Geoffrion, (born January 24, 1958) played three seasons of professional hockey, for the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association in 1978–79, Canadiens in 1979–80 (with his father as coach), and Winnipeg Jets in 1980–81. His grandson Blake Geoffrion (born February 3, 1988) plays hockey at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and will wear the captain's "C" as a junior for the 2008–09 season. He appears poised to be the third generation of Geoffrions, and fourth generation of the Morenz-Geoffrion family, in the NHL. Blake was drafted 56th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2006 NHL Draft.

Retired number

The Canadiens announced on October 15, 2005, that Geoffrion's uniform number 5 would be retired on March 11, 2006. On March 8, Geoffrion was diagnosed with stomach cancer after a surgical procedure uncovered it. Doctors attempted to remove the tumour, but found that the cancer had spread too far. Geoffrion died at the age of 75 in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 11, the day his jersey number was to be retired. He died exactly 69 years after his father-in-law Howie Morenz's funeral at the Montreal Forum, and exactly 10 years after the Forum closed its doors in 1996, making the date among the saddest for Canadiens fans.

During his remarks at the pre-game retirement ceremony, Geoffrion's son Bob recounted how his parents had once gone to a boxing match at the Montreal Forum and that Geoffrion had told his wife Marlene that his own number would someday hang from the rafters beside that of her father's.² Fulfilling that prophecy, and in further recognition of the special link between the Morenz and Geoffrion families, the two numbers were raised side by side (Morenz's banner was lowered halfway and was raised back up to the rafters with Geoffrion's banner). To add to the many coincidences of that day, the two numbers of the banner of Morenz and Geoffrion form together the number 75, which is the age he died that day.

Awards

• Calder Memorial Trophy - 1952
• Art Ross Trophy - 1955, 1961
• Stanley Cup champions 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
• Hart Memorial Trophy - 1961
• His number 5 was retired by the Montreal Canadiens on March 11, 2006
• In 1998, he was ranked number 42 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Records

• Second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season.

Career statistics

See also

• List of NHL players
• List of the National Hockey League retired numbers
• List of players with 5 or more goals in an NHL game

References

External links

• Bernie Geoffrion's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Bernie Geoffrion's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Hockey Hall of Fame
• Sports E-Cyclopedia's Memoriam to "Boom Boom"