Lightning strikes as McGill grad Boucher appointed head coach of NHL squad
Jun. 10, 2010
MONTREAL - Guy Boucher, a former team captain of the McGill University Redmen,
was appointed head coach of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning
on Thursday. The 38-year-old native of Roxboro, Que., is the fifth former Redmen
player to serve as a coach in the NHL and becomes the youngest current bench
boss in the league.
He joins previous McGillians Mike Babcock (Detroit, Anaheim), George Burnett
(Edmonton, Anaheim) and Lester Patrick (New York), along with Jamie Kompon,
currently an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings.
Boucher's meteoric rise through the coaching ranks began in 1996 as an apprentice
to Martin Raymond with the Redmen, followed by a stint in the Quebec Major Junior
Hockey League and last year, he landed the head coaching berth in Hamilton,
the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, where he was named AHL coach of
the year after guiding the Bulldogs to a 52-17-11 record.
His success stems not as much from his system of play as his style of dealing
with players, a philosophy shaped by two McGill degrees followed by a year of
course work in sports psychology at the Université de Montréal.
"I'm not coaching systems, I'm coaching individuals," Boucher said
to the media in Tampa. "Managing people comes first on my list. If I have
24 players on my team, I need 24 ways to coach. ... I found out that if you
care about the players, they will care about what you have to say after that."
Boucher, who was born at Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Que., and raised in the Montreal
suburb of Roxboro, turns 39 on Aug. 3. He possesses arts (history & environmental
biology) and engineering degrees from McGill, where he played four seasons at
centre for the Redmen, from 1991 to 1995, recording 71 goals and 183 points
in 141 games. A two-time league all-star, he won the Guy Lafleur trophy in 1993,
was voted team MVP in 1993-94 and served as captain in 1994-95. After graduating
from McGill, he played pro in France for one season where he led Viry-Chatillon
to a 1996 championship in the French Elite League. He also had a brief stint
with the Quebec Rafales of the International Hockey League but his playing career
was cut short by a bout with chronic fatigue syndrome.
"I wanted to bring in a strong leader, someone who's been successful,"
said Steve Yzerman, Tampa's recently appointed general manager. "He's a
strong, charismatic leader with tremendous work ethic and passion for the game,
and an extremely knowledgeable hockey person. He's a very confident, very strong
leader. I am very confident that he is the right person to lead our team on
the ice and off the ice. He can create a culture of a winning environment, much
like he's done at every stop of his coaching career."
Before joining the pro ranks in Hamilton, Boucher, spent the better part of
the past decade in the QMJHL, including the three seasons as head coach at Drummondville,
where he led the Voltigeurs to the 2008-09 regular season and playoff championships,
as well as a berth in the Memorial Cup tournament. He also guided the Voltigeurs
to their best season in franchise history (54-10-4), an improvement of almost
400% over the previous season (14-51-5). He was awarded the Paul Dumont Trophy
as the QMJHL's Personality of the Year in 2008-09.
Prior to his tenure in Drummondville, Boucher was an assistant coach with the
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (1997-2000) under Jean Pronovost and was with the Rimouski
Oceanic (2003-2006), where he served under Donald Dufresne and Doris Labonte,
and coached then future NHL star Sydney Crosby. He left the QMJHL for two seasons
(2000-02), to be at the helm of the Lac St. Louis Lions in the Midget AAA league.
Boucher also enjoyed success at the international level working as an assistant
coach with Canada's national under-18 team on three separate occasions, most
recently at the 2008 IIHF U-18 world championship where the squad struck gold.
He was also behind the bench at the 2007 Ivan Hlinka Memorial summer tournament
and the 2006 U-18 world championship. More recently, at the 2009 U-20 world
championship, he served as an assistant to Pat Quinn with the Canadian team
that won gold at the world junior championships in Ottawa.
He and wife Marsha have three children, son Vincent and twin daughters Mila
and Naomi.
PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO:
http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=531410&cmpid=tbl-ext:twt
FORMER McGILL HOCKEY PLAYERS WHO HAVE COACHED IN THE NHL
Lester Patrick (New York, head coach, 1926-39)
George Burnett (Edmonton, head coach, 1994-95; Anaheim, asst., coach, 1998-99)
Mike Babcock (Anaheim, head coach, 2000-02; Detroit, head coach, 2002-present)
Jamie Kompon (St. Louis, asst. coach, 1998-05; Los Angeles, head coach, 2005-present)
Guy Boucher (Tampa Bay, head coach, 2010-present)
BOUCHER'S COACHING CAREER AT A GLANCE
1996-97 McGill University Redmen (OUA), asst. coach
1997-00 Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL), asst. coach
2000-02 Lac St. Louis Lions (Quebec Midget AAA), head coach
2003-06 Rimouski Oceanic (Quebec Midget AAA), asst. coach
2006-09 Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL), head coach
2009-10 Hamilton Bulldogs (QMJHL), head coach
2010-?? Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL), head coach
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
