Hall of Fame hockey player Henry Boucha dies at 72
Miles Morrisseau
ICT
Hall of Fame hockey player and Olympic medalist Henry Boucha proudly wore his Ojibwa identity during his National Hockey League career, flying around the ice with his trademark headband holding back his long, black hair.
It was a signature look in a day when helmets were rarely worn in the NHL and Native identity was not proudly expressed in mainstream society, yet Boucha held proud to his nation and to his country in a career cut short by a devastating eye injury.
This hockey trading card shows U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame player and Olympic silver medalist Henry Boucha, who played for the Detroit Red Wings and other NHL teams. Boucha died Sept. 18, 2023, at age 72. He was a citizen of the Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation in Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Miles Morrisseau/ICT)
Described by the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as “the most electrifying player ever to come out of Minnesota,” Boucha died Sept. 18, 2023, at age 72 after an illness. He was a citizen of the Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation in Ontario, Canada.
“Henry was an outstanding player who won an Olympic silver medal at 19,” Scott Taylor, editor of Game On magazine and author of the book, “A History of Excellence: The Untold Stories of Manitoba’s Indigenous Sport,” told ICT.
“I knew him as a guy who was proud to be Ojibwa at a time when it must have been terribly difficult for a Native American to get a chance to play.”
Hundreds of people turned out on Friday, Sept. 29, for a remembrance program at the Gardens Arena in Warroad, Minnesota, where Boucha first gained fame as an outstanding athlete and hockey player. The remembrance followed a traditional Anishinaabe ceremony that began on Thursday, Sept. 28.
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The state of Minnesota declared Sept. 29 as Henry Boucha Day, and Hockey Day Minnesota in Warroad in January will honor Boucha.
“There has been a tremendous outpouring of support both from the hockey communities and from others that knew my dad in other aspects of his life,” his daughter, Tara Boucha, told ICT.
“I am very humbled and honored by all that have reached out. There have been many that have sent condolences and others that have shared stories on the positive impact he had in their lives. It's been wonderful to hear them all. knew my dad was a popular guy, but I never quite realized the extent of his impact or how much he was loved and admired by others.”
After playing for Warroad High School, Boucha (pronounced BOO-shay) played in the National Hockey League between 1971 and 1977 for the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota North Stars, Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies. He also played for the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association.
Internationally, he played for the U.S. national hockey team in two world championships and in the 1972 Winter Olympics, where the team won a silver medal in a surprising 5-1 victory over Czechoslovakia. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995 and into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
His surprising death on Sept. 18 drew an outpouring on social media.
“His was a hockey life like few others in the State of Hockey,” the Minnesota Wild team posted on X, formally known as Twitter. “RIP to the legend of Warroad, Hockeytown USA's own Henry Boucha.”
A local legend
Boucha was born in Warroad on June 1, 1951, and became a local legend after leading the Warroad High School hockey team to the state championship finals in 1969.
The game was the biggest thing in the state, and when it was over, some fans listening on the radio were left believing that Boucha had made the ultimate sacrifice for his team.
The games were broadcast live on television and radio to go along with extensive newspaper coverage. In his memoir, “Henry Boucha, Ojibwa: Native American Olympian,” Boucha recounts how the Cinderella story of the Warroad Warriors taking on Edina, Minnesota, captured the imagination of hockey fans across the state.
“They cited us as ‘David’ and Edina as ‘Goliath,’” he wrote in his book. “Warroad was a poor, blue-collar community and small school of less than 200 students. Edina was a wealthy suburb of Minneapolis with over 2,000 students. Edina was known for winning a lot of titles in a lot of different sports around the [Twin Cities] area. Statewide, people did not favor them because of it. As it turned out, everyone who was not from Edina was on our side and we had fans galore.”
According to Boucha, the building erupted with deafening cheers when the Warriors hit the ice and continued as the team skated around to the sounds of the school band and cheerleaders. The Edina Hornets got a very different reception, however, when the team took the ice.
U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer and Olympic medalist Henry Boucha walks on the red carpet on the ice before a Warroad, Minnesota, home game on Dec. 29, 2022. Boucha died Sept. 18, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Warroad Hockey)
“The boos were deafening. It was unbelievable,” he wrote. “They were being booed by the crowd and we hadn't even started the game yet. Their cheerleaders and the school band were blocked out by the boos from the crowd.”
With the score tied in the second period, however, Boucha was taken out with a vicious elbow to the head. He slammed into the glass, rupturing his eardrum, and landed, dazed, onto the ice. He headed to the emergency room with his parents and heard on the radio that his team had lost in overtime.
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One local radio station mistakenly announced that Boucha had been killed by the injury.
“There were people in Warroad listening to the game that night and they shut off the radio after that announcement. They went to bed thinking that I had died,” Boucha wrote. “They did not hear the correct news until the next day.”
Out of high school, Boucha played junior hockey in Canada for the Winnipeg Jets and played on the USA team that won gold in Group B at the 1970 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships in Bucharest, Romaine.
Boucha was tireless and relentless on the ice, playing forward and defense — a rare feat at any competitive level. The U.S. would move up to Group A after that win for future IIHF competitions.
He played for three seasons with the U.S. National Team from 1969-1972, netting 73 goals and 86 assists in 115 games.
During that period, he was also drafted into the U.S. Army, but continued to play on the U.S. national team. Although he completed basic training while the Vietnam War was in full force, he never went to the front lines. Instead, he represented his country on the ice.
He turned pro in 1971 when he was drafted in the NHL’s second round — 16th overall — by the Detroit Red Wings. He found out the news while in training at Fort Gordon in Georgia after playing in the 1971 World Championships and getting shut out of the medal round.
“I received a telephone call one day. A clerk came over from the CO’s office and found me. I thought something was wrong,” Boucha wrote. “When I answered, to my surprise it was John Gilbert from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He said, ‘Congratulations!’ and I said, ‘Thanks, but what for?’ He said, ‘Haven't you heard?’ I said, ‘No.’ He told me that the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL had drafted me.”
The next year, however, Boucha would join Team USA at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. The 1972 game was not heralded like the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game of 1980 would be, but it was nonetheless magical and completely unexpected.
Canada did not send a team that year, but there was no question that the Russian Red Army was going to take home gold and that teams from Czechoslovakia, Finland and Sweden were all expected to challenge for the podium.
The silver medal win was a huge accomplishment for U.S. hockey, but the team was not given the attention it deserved.
“It was an amazing moment but where were the U.S. cameras and the reporters? There was nothing, no interviews or cheers for us. We felt abandoned and walked away feeling underappreciated,” Boucha wrote in his book. “We knew what we had accomplished and we knew how important it was to USA Hockey and the U.S. Olympic Committee. The U.S. TV media left the country and we had no fanfare or recognition.”
A signature look
Boucha went on to play three seasons for the Red Wings. He played 16 games in the 1972 season after being called up following his international success at the Olympics, and joined the team as a fourth-line center behind future Hall of Famers Red Berenson, Marcel Dionne and team captain Alex Delvechio.
He and fellow Olympian Robbie Ftorek were the only Americans on the Red Wings team in a league dominated by Canadians.
Boucha played 73 games in his first full season, with 14 goals and 14 assists to go along with 82 penalty minutes, and was chosen the Wings Rookie of the Year.
It was in that rookie year that he decided to create his signature look.
NHL rules at that time allowed for players to play without helmets, and Boucha found he preferred to play without one. There was only one problem — his hair, which had started to grow out after his military service, was getting in his eyes.
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A friend who owned a tennis shop suggested headbands and he bought four, but figured it would be too much of a headache to actually wear one on ice during a game. He wondered what his teammates would say, or the coach, the manager, the fans. He was a rookie and these were the Detroit Red Wings with future Hall of Famers sharing the bench.
When the time came, he dressed for a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and went into the shower room where all the players fixed their hair. He put on his headband, carefully parting it down the middle. He liked the way it looked, and if no one in authority told him to take it off, he was going to wear it.
When he walked into the dressing room, his teammates exploded in laughter and began to razz him. But no one had the authority to make him take it off. It was up to the coach, Johnny Wilson.
“He walked up to the centre of the locker room, as usual, telling us who was going to play against what line, when all of a sudden he looked at me and stopped. He did a double-take and said, ‘What is that?’” Boucha wrote.
“Everyone roared again and he laughed and said, ‘What are you, some kind of chief?’ Everyone roared again. Then he took a long look at me again, shrugged his shoulders and continued with his game plan and pregame speech.”
Fans had some words, too, but Boucha played well and his signature look and play began to get him noticed.
“As the season went on I gained more confidence, scored some goals and gained notoriety in the league and media,” he wrote. “We actually started selling headbands in the concessions in Detroit. The public relations department loved it and I was in demand.”
The attention also made him a target, however.
“While playing in the National Hockey League the racial name-calling and derogatory comments about race (being Indian) by some of the players was there too, but not as bad as when I was in junior (league),” he wrote. “There were comments and a few statements that hurt and were totally out of line. I dealt with them but it certainly bothered me.”
He continued, “I fought when I had to, but never looked for a fight. I was older and had gone through that stuff before. So I seemed to handle it better, but it was painful and hurtful. Several fans were the same way. The NHL had no guidelines for that conduct and only after African-Americans came into the league was a code of conduct established.”
Devastating injury
On Jan. 28, 1972, Boucha broke an NHL record that had stood for more than 40 years for the fastest goal in league history.
The game was in Montreal against the fabled Canadiens. Berenson won the opening draw and carried the puck into the Montreal end, one of the defensemen fell and it was a 3-on-1. Berenson hit Billy Collins with a pass who fed to a wide-open Boucha, who beat goalie Wayne Thomas with a backhand. Only six seconds had ticked off the clock.
It was the fastest goal ever, at that time, and the record would stand for almost 10 years.
In his second full season, 1973-1974, Boucha scored 19 goals and had 12 assists. He would be traded the following year. His first season as a member of his hometown team, the Minnesota North Stars, got off to a fast start. Boucher had scored 15 goals to go along with 14 assists in the first 51 games.
Then came Jan. 4, 1975, when the team took on the Boston Bruins, one of the top teams in the league led by superstar Bobby Orr. Boucha was on the top line for the Stars.
“Ordinarily, the opposing team will throw out a checking line against you,” Boucha wrote. “That is what Don Cherry, Bruins coach, did against us. I had Dave Forbes on my wing against me during the first period. He was one of those borderline players who were up and down throughout the season.”
Forbes and Boucha had an exchange and both got thrown in the penalty box. The game got rough, with Orr ending up in the box after cutting another Minnesota player with a high stick.
When Boucha stepped back on the ice, he looked to Forbes to see if the Bruin wanted to drop the gloves but he got no sign.
“Usually players will say something and square off to fight. Nothing was happening,” he wrote. “Someone said, ‘Look out.’”
Forbes attacked Boucha from behind, wielding his hockey stick as a weapon.
“As I turned around the butt end of his stick hit me just above the right eye on the eyebrow,” he wrote. “The force of the blow was hard. I heard a pop and saw blood spurt out on the ice. I remember going down to cover up… Good thing I did because Forbes then jumped on my back and punched me in the back of the head. He did that until one of our players grabbed him.”
Boucha’s orbital bone had been fractured and he had damage to the muscles around the eye. He needed 30 stitches.
Charges were filed by the attorney of Hennepin County and the case became a sensation. It was the first time that criminal charges had ever been brought for actions that resulted in injury in a professional sports league. The case would end with a hung jury.
After the injury, Boucha tried to restart his career with the expansion Kansas City Scouts, who lasted only two seasons before relocating to Denver to become the Colorado Rockies. Boucha would dress for only 37 games and would contribute 4 goals and 9 assists in partial seasons for both teams.
Following his early exit from a promising professional hockey career, Boucha took the NHL, the Boston Bruins and Dave Forbes to court and won an undisclosed settlement that he took in payouts over 30 years.
He eventually retired to Warroad and began to volunteer as a hockey coach and also work in education, serving as the American Indian Education coordinator for Warroad schools.
“One of the highlights in my life was being able to work with the kids not only in hockey and other recreational programs but also with education life experiences and challenges,” he wrote.
Helping others
Hockey player T.J. Oshie, who won the Stanley Cup in 2018 with the Washington Capitals, shared how close Boucha had been to his family in a post on the official Capitals website.
“Him and my dad (Tim) were close,” stated Oshie. “When they were together, they seemed like older brother and younger brother, but they were cousins.”
Oshie got a big push into the world of hockey when he moved to attend school in Warroad, known as Hockeytown USA.
“I actually moved in with Henry by myself. I just started school and my dad came out a couple months later,” Oshie recalled. “I spent my first couple of months in Warroad in the room right next to Henry, and he got my hockey career going by opening his doors to me and introducing me to the town, and in getting me into the mix there in Warroad.”
Boucha was working on a documentary film about his life at the time of his death, and had been working with other nonprofit organizations to help Native students, as well as the NHL/USA Hockey Diversity Task Force Program. The documentary is set to be released in 2024.
He had been scheduled to attend a banquet for the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame in early September but was too ill, said educator and former coach Dan Ninham, who started the Hall of Fame with his wife, educator Susan Ninham.
“Henry made others better,” said Dan Ninham, who gave a tribute to Boucha at the Sept. 29 program.
Taylor said Boucha achieved a level of success during a time when Indigenous peoples were extremely marginalized.
“I last interviewed him on our hockey radio show in Fargo and what set him apart was that even though his career was cut short by an eye injury at 24, he did so much for the Indigenous community in the United States after he left the game,” Taylor said. “It's rather unfortunate that the work he did to help his people is often overlooked by hockey historians."
Stephane Friday, Cree from Kasechewan First nation, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Hockey Indigenous organization, said Boucha’s impact lives on.
“Acknowledging and remembering former Indigenous NHL player and role model the late Henry Boucha celebrating his remarkable journey and profound impact on the world of ice hockey. As a member of the Ojibwa tribe, Boucha's extraordinary talent and resilience broke barriers, inspiring generations of Indigenous athletes,” Friday told ICT.
“His legacy goes beyond the rink serving as a symbol of strength and determination for Indigenous communities across North America,” Friday said. “Boucha's unwavering commitment to both his heritage and the sport he loved underscores the profound influence one individual can have in promoting diversity and excellence in hockey, including Olympic silver in 1972.”
According to the family obituary, Boucha was preceded in death by his parents, George and Alice Boucha, and siblings Darlene Dorion, Phyllis Sargent, George Boucha Jr., Dave (Tudy) Boucha, and Susan Boucha.
He is survived by his four children: Tara Boucha of Warroad; son Henry Boucha Jr. of the Twin Cities; daughter Bridgette Schulte of Atlanta, Georgia; and son Jean Paul (JP) Boucha of the Twin Cities; and siblings Shirley Flick of Warroad, Jim Boucha of Hutchinson; Ed Boucha of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and five grandchildren.
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