Bruce Boudreau: Patron Saint of Second Chances

Anecdotes?

 

I've interviewed him a few times as well, and he was always a nice guy.

 

I was obviously way down the hockey/journalism/hockey journalism food chain, but he still answers the phone or returns messages when I call. In Biloxi, Miss., I was a local guy hired to cover the team largely because I'd played hockey when I was a kid. OK, six months or so in Birmingham, Ala., didn't make me Gordie Howe, but I'd been a fan since and had been able to learn more when the sport got on ESPN. He was always willing to address the questions, regardless of how ridiculous they might have seemed.

On the ice, the team got off to a bit of a slow start, but Boudreau made a trade for a center who was good, but not great, and that sparked the team. They won something like 24 of 28 games after that, including a winning four games in four nights in four different buildings. I think it was Lafayette, La.; Biloxi; Pensacola, Fla.; and Tallahassee, Fla. They'd started that swing a bit depleted with injuries, but the last night they got a couple more and finished with something like 10 skaters. Guys were coming off the ice, barely sitting down and having to jump right back over the boards. Those guys woulda skated another game that night for him.

In the playoffs, they wound up having to that a couple times. They won a triple-OT game to clinch the first round, won a triple-OT game in the next round that had the goalie puking in the crease in OT and needing IVs aftter, and erased a 3-1 finals series deficit by winning three straight. They trailed 3-1 in the third period, tied it in the final minute, then won in double overtime. I'll never forget Boudreau running around the ice with his slobby white dress shirt flapping all over the place looking to hug guys.

 

He definitely did a lot with talent that was good, but certainly not great (even for the ECHL) that year.

The thing I'll always remember about Gabby is that what was left of his hair at the time was a little longer on the sides and in the back than it is today, and after a particularly emotional game (which the Sea Wolves' games against the team I covered often were) he used to look a lot like George Costanza with this hair and clothes all desheveled.

 

Didn't find EF's original piece on Boudreau but I did find this one: interviews with Boudreau and good friend and former Leafs teammate John Anderson.

 

Boudreau was buried in the minors for so long, but some of his AHL teams, on paper, were absolutely atrocious. He knew how to get the best out of those players on the ice.

The Max Talbot commercials are hysterical, esp. if you know his personality - very engaging, humorous and self-deprecating. But if Boudreau ever does this kind of commercial, God freaking help him.