Henry Charles Boucha ( ; born June 1, 1951) is an American former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

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. Boucha played in both the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) and

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

(WHA) between 1971 and 1977. In the NHL he played for the Detroit Red Wings,

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

Kansas City Scouts The Kansas City Scouts were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, the franchise relocated to Denver, and became the Colorado Rockies. In 1982, the Rockies relocated to New Jersey where ...

and Colorado Rockies, while he played for the

Minnesota Fighting Saints The Minnesota Fighting Saints was the name of two professional ice hockey teams based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that played in the World Hockey Association. The first team was one of the WHA's original twelve franchises, playing from 1972 to 19 ...

of the WHA. His career was cut short by an eye injury. Internationally Boucha played for the American national team at two

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Euro ...

, where he won a silver medal. A full-blooded Chippewa Ojibwa, Boucha's distant cousin Gary Sargent and his second cousin T. J. Oshie also played in the NHL.

Amateur career

Boucha played high school hockey for

Warroad High School Warroad High School is a public high school in Warroad, Minnesota, United States. Despite the small size of the community, the school has produced several successful hockey players. Academics 21% of Warroad students participate in the school's A ...

Warroad, Minnesota Warroad is a city in Roseau County, Minnesota, United States, at the southwest corner of Lake of the Woods, south of Canada. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. Warroad had its own newspaper before it was incorporated in 1901. Minne ...

leading his team to the 1969 state tournament where he was injured during a 5–4 overtime loss to

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. He is considered to be one of the best players to ever play Minnesota high school hockey. While serving in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, Boucha joined the United States national ice hockey team on a full-time basis in 1970 as the US won the "Pool B" qualification tournament. He participated in the 1971

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

in Bern, Switzerland where he scored seven goals in ten games for Team USA. Boucha was also one of the biggest stars of the 1972 United States Olympic hockey team that received the silver medal.

Professional career

Boucha was drafted in the second round, 16th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the

1971 NHL Entry Draft The 1971 NHL Amateur Draft was the ninth NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 10, 1971, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Larry Robinson, who retired after the 1991� ...

(he was also drafted first overall by the

of the rival WHA but chose not to defect to the WHA). Boucha scored a goal in his first NHL game after the Olympics and was voted Detroit rookie of the year in his first full NHL season. The Red Wings sent him to the

in exchange for

Danny Grant Daniel Frederick Grant (February 21, 1946 – October 14, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for parts of fourteen seasons from 1966 to 1979, most notably for the Minnesota Nor ...

in 1974. Boucha was enjoying a solid year in his home state; on January 4, 1975, he was assaulted in a highly publicized stick incident by

Dave Forbes David Stephen Forbes (born November 16, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played for the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League between 1973 and 1978, and for the Cincinnati Stingers of the ...

of the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

. The attack left Boucha with a cracked bone around his eye and blurred vision. Forbes was prosecuted for aggravated assault. His trial resulted in a hung jury. Boucha never really recovered from the injury. He attempted a comeback with the

of the WHA in 1975–76 and then returned to the NHL as a free agent with the

in later 1975-76. In 1976 the franchise moved to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and became the Colorado Rockies, from whom he retired from professional hockey after only nine games. Before the NHL required players to wear a helmet, Boucha wore a headband. His nickname was "the Chief".

Post career

Boucha fell on hard times due to his unexpectedly early retirement from hockey (his agent was negotiating a four-year contract with the North Stars but the talks were never completed due to the injury). He went through a period of divorce, drug and alcohol abuse before straightening out his life in the 1980s. He has re-established himself in his native community and become active in various Native American causes.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and achievements

* Detroit Red Wings

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

of the year, 1972–73 * Inducted into the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and ...

in 1995.

International play

* Ice hockey world championships, Pool B, 1970 (first, won promotion to Pool A) * Ice hockey world championships, Pool A, 1971 (sixth place) * Olympic tournament, 1972 (second place)

References

External links

*
Profile at Hockeydraftcentral.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boucha, Henry 1951 births American men's ice hockey centers Colorado Rockies (NHL) players Detroit Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings players Ice hockey players from Minnesota Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics Kansas City Scouts players Living people Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Warroad Lakers players Minnesota Fighting Saints players Minnesota North Stars players Native American sportspeople Native American United States military personnel Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey People from Warroad, Minnesota United States Army soldiers United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Virginia Wings players Winnipeg Jets (WHL) players