BIG "Butch" Bouchard, durable dread-naught of the Canadlens'
defence, - _made the National Hockey League only three years after he
learned to skate.
He stlll looks awkward. ponderous. But he was made for the Big Time,
where a special brand of savvy and gruelling "go" Is required, Kenny
Reardon, former Canadien defence great, says:
"Bouchard. made me. I did aU,the skating, he did at the covering and
brain work, No matter how tough the going, he is a steadying Influence.
And he always gets at least a piece of a guy _ nobody ever gets around
him cleanly."
It all started at the age ot 17, when Bouchard turned out with his
school team. Sloppy but effective, he got up to the Verdun Juniors late
the next season and to Canadiens Seniors the next-just how, he can't
figure. But he decided to ride his luck and try out with the N.H.L.
Canadiens. It took sheer gall. Coach Dick Irvin says: "The big fellow
could hardly skate-but he was big and tough. I saw something there but
was really sold by Murph Chamberlain."
In the first minutes of the tlrst practice.
"Butch" found himself embroiled in a corner with the Canadien hard
rock. Murphy got the worst of it and promptly Skated over to Irvin.
"Get that guy for our side," he grunted.
"He'll stop 'em dead!"
Now 33, with 13 completed seasons behind him, Emile Joseph Bouchard has
been a driving force on three Stanley Cup teams with, Canadiens, Three
times he was voted by the hockey writers of the six league clUes to the
first All-Star team and tWice to the second team-just by way of proving
how right Murph really was.
Father of a handsome family, head of a prosperous Montreal business, "Butch" is a credit to the game off-Ice as well.
Andy O'Brien
