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November
2004
One Man's Memories of Bourque
By Kevin Paul Dupont | From 
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• -- The first week of training camp, well
into his late-30s, Ray Bourque outskated Sergei Samsonov. Granted,
Samsonov had the puck as he cracked the blue line. But Bourque was
skating in reverse.
• -- “The market is 40 percent higher
than it should be, and that's for every player in the game, including
Ray Bourque.” So said Harry Sinden on Oct. 5, 1993, the day
a disappointed Bourque had his salary fixed at $2.25 million by
arbitrator Richard I. Bloch. ”We are never a winner in this
thing,” added Sinden.
• -- In June 1980, the day he collected
the Calder as Rookie of the Year, the Quebec-born Bourque had yet
to master the English language. His written speech in hand –
you’re no doubt surprised that he was prepared – he
twice stumbled over the word “professional.” What was
slightly funny then seems outrageously and comically ironic today.
• -- His teammates on the ice for Bourque's
last shift as a Bruin on March 4, 2000: Darren Van Impe, Shawn Bates,
Steve Heinze, Ken Belanger and Rob Tallas. Final score: Flyers 3,
Bruins 0. O.K., so, any lingering questions over why he felt he
had to leave the Hub of Hockey?
• -- The powerhouse Canadiens for years
trotted out a back line anchored by Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe
and Serge Savard. In the spring of '01, Colorado won the Cup with
a back line anchored by Bourque, Rob Blake and Adam Foote. Oh, and
they also had Patrick Roy in net. For his 20-plus years in Boston,
Bourque never skated with that kind of company.
• -- The No. 8 pick in the June '79 draft,
Bourque's first contract guaranteed him a total $300,000 over his
first three seasons in Boston. He went out right away and bought
his dad an Oldsmobile – a black-and-gold Cutlass Supreme.
• -- Of the many things that didn't go quite
right during Bourque's time in Boston, the most significant probably
was the fact that Al Iafrate arrived as damaged goods in the spring
of '94. At full health, paired with Bourque on the back line ...
at least one Cup, maybe two.
• -- “Everyone loves Raymond –
but Raymond loves you!” So said an elated Bourque on June
13, 2001, when he stepped to a stage at Boston's City Hall Plaza
and showed a delighted crowd the Stanley Cup he had just won in
Denver. B’s management was irate over the appearance. An incensed
Sinden, speaking early that morning on WEEI radio, labeled it unnecessary
and said Bourque should have acted in a “different manner.”
But a crowd of some 20,000, including the guest of honor, absolutely
loved it. And the Bruins had two decades to stage their own hockey
hootenanny when Bourque was still wearing the spoked ‘B.’
• -- Avs fans got to see Bourque win a Cup.
As a B’s fan, you got to see him win five Norris Trophies.
You win, by a mile.
• -- The line that should be included on
the short biography that will run beneath Bourque's likeness at
the Hockey Hall of Fame: “No one in the history of the sport
played so proficiently for so long. No one.”
• -- Consider: the last time he played on
Causeway Street, wearing that snowy swoosh on the front of his Avs
sweater, he led everyone in shifts (41) and ice time (31:46). He
also collected a pair of assists in the 4-2 victory. All at age
40, only a few months from retirement.
• -- Look for a small, gray and beaming
man, now in his mid-50s, to be constantly within shouting distance
of Bourque during the HHOF weekend. That will be Benoit Leduc, his
sidekick of some 30 years. Leduc was the gym teacher in St. Laurent,
just outside of Montreal, who not only encouraged a teenaged Bourque
to chase his NHL dream, but also provided him with the athletic/training
blueprint to get him there. Bourque followed Leduc's training program,
based on building a broad aerobic base, through his entire NHL career.
Leduc on his prized pupil: “He is the horse that always wants
to do more.”
• -- O.K., choose: Bourque or Bobby Orr.
For one night. To win the Cup. And don't give me any of that “different
era” baloney.
• -- At least 10 years before he won the
Cup, Bourque provided a complete dream-generated picture of how
he wanted to look the day he won it. “You would know that
you'd been in a battle,” he said after a morning workout at
the old Garden. “My cheeks would be sunken. I'd have nicks
and cuts. You'd know from the picture that you paid the price.”
He got all of that, and more, including an ample patch of gray in
his playoff beard.
• -- Personally, I've never witnessed it,
but friends say Bourque is a pretty good karaoke singer. Let us
all give thanks, though, that he didn't feel a song “coming
on” the night he held the mike on Causeway for his lift of
No. 77 to the rafters.
• -- If you're the type who treasures your
Bourque/Banknorth bobblehead, chances are you've still got a loaf
of Big Yaz Bread tucked away deep in your freezer. Bon appetit.
• -- If B’s prospect Mark Stuart has
even half of Bourque's game – to go with that matching body
type – then we could be in for a treat.
This article appears in the November issue
of New England Hockey Journal. Click
here to subscribe to the magazine.
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