Bernie boom boom Geoffrion legacy
Joseph Bernard André Geoffrion; born February 16, 1931 – died March 11, 2006), nicknamed “Boom Boom”, was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. Generally considered one of the innovators of the slapshot, Geoffrion was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 following a 16-year career with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.
In 1998, he was ranked 42nd on The Hockey News’ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In 2017, he was named one of the ‘100 Greatest NHL Players’ in history.
Geoffrion was born in Montreal, Quebec, and began playing in the NHL in 1951. He earned the nickname “Boom Boom” for his thundering slapshot (which Geoffrion claimed to have ‘invented’ as a youngster. In the late 1940s, while playing junior hockey for the Laval Nationale.
He was the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, the first being teammate Maurice Richard.
He played left wing on Montreal’s front line with fellow superstars Richard and Jean Béliveau half the time, helping the Canadiens to six Stanley Cup championships, and right-wing on the No. 2 line at other times. But Geoffrion had difficulty convincing the NHL of his considerable talents; Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Bobby Hull (Chicago Black Hawks), and Gordie Howe (Detroit Red Wings) were so good that they overshadowed him. Even after Geoffrion won the Art Ross Trophy as league scoring champion in 1955, NHL First All-Star honors went to Richard, while Geoffrion only was selected to the second.
On March 16, 1955, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended Montreal Canadiens star Maurice “Rocket” Richard for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs after he attacked an opponent with his stick and slugged a referee in the head. At the time of the incident, Richard was the NHL’s leading scorer with 74 points. Richard’s suspension enabled Geoffrion to overtake him as the overall points leader at season’s end. When Geoffrion scored a goal to surpass Richard at the Forum in Montreal, the fans jeered him.
“I couldn’t deliberately not score; that isn’t the point of hockey, Montreal,” complained Geoffrion. “I was so feeling the urge to vomit; I felt terrible,” Geoffrion emotionally admitted.
“Even thinking about hockey made me feel bad. Man, did I want to leave? I would have if it had not been for Jean (Béliveau) and Maurice (Richard) visiting. Usually, it’s not too much to expect to be on the First (All-Star) Team when you have more points than anyone else.“
Early in his playing career, he had a reputation for letting his temper get the best of him. One example occurred late in the second period of a Canadiens’ 3–1 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on December 20, 1953. With a two-handed swing, Geoffrion’s stick made contact with the left side of Ron Murphy’s face, resulting in a broken jaw and concussion. The injuries ended Murphy’s season. Geoffrion was suspended for the remaining matches between the two teams in that campaign.
In a testament to the rough-and-tumble style of play of that era, Geoffrion broke his nose six times and received over 400 stitches. In 1958, a training accident severely injured him, and emergency surgery saved his life. Despite his doctors’ advice to stop playing for a season, Geoffrion returned to the ice six weeks later to play in the 1958 Stanley Cup Finals.
Geoffrion first retired in 1964 and became head coach of the Québec Aces of the American Hockey League (AHL), but returned two seasons later to play for the New York Rangers. The likely reason for his first retirement was Béliveau (who was not one of the three alternate captains), who was appointed team captain in 1961. This followed the Rocket’s retirement in 1960 and Doug Harvey’s trade to the Rangers in 1961. Geoffrion, who had had an A, was devastated by the decision to go with Béliveau.
In 1968, he finally retired as a player and became the Rangers’ coach, but he resigned after only 43 games due to ulcers in his stomach.
Coaching
In 1972, he became the first coach of the Atlanta Flames and held the position for two and a half seasons, leading them to their first playoff appearance in 1974. However, 52 games into his third season, he resigned due to health problems. Geoffrion moved to the Flames’ broadcast booth, becoming the color commentator alongside veteran play-by-play man Jiggs McDonald. In 1979, he realized a longtime dream of coaching his beloved Canadiens, but his recurring stomach ailment forced him to step down mid-season.
In the 1970s and into the 1980s, Geoffrion appeared in several television commercials for Miller Lite beer, part of their stable of retired athletes-turned-spokesmen, including Billy Martin and Bob Uecker.
Geoffrion was a direct descendant of Pierre Joffrion and his wife Marie Priault, early French settlers in the colony of Montreal. Marie Priault was a King’s Daughter. Geoffrion’s widow, Marlene, is the daughter of fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Howie Morenz and the granddaughter of the sister of Billy Coutu’s wife, the only player banned from the NHL for life.
Geoffrion’s son Dan (born January 24, 1958) played five seasons of professional hockey, including stops with the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association in 1978–79, the Canadiens in 1979–80 (with his father as coach), and the Winnipeg Jets in 1980–81.
His grandson Blake Geoffrion (born February 3, 1988) played in the NHL with the Nashville Predators and Montreal Canadiens.
On October 15, 2005, the Canadiens announced that Geoffrion’s uniform number, 5, would be retired on March 11, 2006. On March 8, Geoffrion was diagnosed with stomach cancer after a surgical procedure uncovered it.
Doctors attempted to remove the tumor but found that the cancer had spread. Geoffrion died in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 11, the same day his jersey number was to be retired.
During his remarks at the pre-game retirement ceremony, Geoffrion’s son Bob recounted how his parents had once gone to a boxing match at the Montreal Forum and that Geoffrion had told his wife Marlene that his number would someday hang from the rafters beside that of her father, Howie Morenz. Fulfilling that prophecy and further recognizing the unique link between the Morenz and Geoffrion families, the two numbers were raised side by side (Morenz’s banner was lowered halfway and raised back up to the rafters with Geoffrion’s banner).
Bernard Geoffrrion had a remarkable N.H.L. career. In the 1950s, he won six Stanley Cups: the Calder Memorial Trophy (1952), the Art Ross Trophy (1955), and the 1961 Hart Memorial Trophy (N.H.L. Second All-Star Team—1955, 1960). He played in every All-Star Game from 1952 to 1963, except for 1957.
Geoffrion finished his N.H.L. career with 395 Goals, 429 Assists, and 824 Points in 883 Games. He accumulated 58 Goals and 60 Assists for 118 Points in 132 playoff games.
Traded to the Montreal Canadiens by the Nashville Predators on February 17, 2012, Blake Geoffrion decided to honor both his grandfather Geoffrion and his great-grandfather Morenz by wearing #57.
Awards
- Calder Memorial Trophy – 1952
- NHL All-Star Game – 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963
- NHL Second All-Star Team – 1955, 1960
- Art Ross Trophy – 1955, 1961
- Stanley Cup champion – 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
- Hart Memorial Trophy – 1961
- NHL First All-Star Team – 1961
- His number 5 was retired by the Montreal Canadiens on March 11, 2006
- In 1998, he was ranked 42 on The Hockey News‘ list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
- In 2017, Geoffrion was named one of the ‘100 Greatest NHL Players’ in history.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs (Bernie boom boom Geoffrion legacy)
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1946–47 | Montreal Concordia Civics | QJHL | 26 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1947–48 | Laval Nationale | QJHL | 29 | 20 | 15 | 35 | 49 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 11 | ||
| 1947–48 | Laval Nationale | M-Cup | — | — | — | — | — | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 11 | ||
| 1948–49 | Laval Nationale | QJHL | 42 | 41 | 35 | 76 | 49 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 22 | ||
| 1949–50 | Laval Nationale | QJHL | 34 | 52 | 34 | 86 | 77 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 8 | ||
| 1949–50 | Montreal Royals | QSHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1950–51 | Montreal Nationale | QJHL | 36 | 54 | 44 | 98 | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1950–51 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 18 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 1951–52 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 67 | 30 | 24 | 54 | 66 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 1952–53 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 65 | 22 | 17 | 39 | 37 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 12 | ||
| 1953–54 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 54 | 29 | 25 | 54 | 87 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 18 | ||
| 1954–55 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 70 | 38 | 37 | 75 | 57 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 8 | ||
| 1955–56 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 59 | 29 | 33 | 62 | 66 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 6 | ||
| 1956–57 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 41 | 19 | 21 | 40 | 18 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 18 | 2 | ||
| 1957–58 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 42 | 27 | 23 | 50 | 51 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 2 | ||
| 1958–59 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 59 | 22 | 44 | 66 | 30 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 10 | ||
| 1959–60 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 59 | 30 | 41 | 71 | 36 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 4 | ||
| 1960–61 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 64 | 50 | 45 | 95 | 29 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 1961–62 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 62 | 23 | 36 | 59 | 36 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 1962–63 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 51 | 23 | 18 | 41 | 73 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 1963–64 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 55 | 21 | 18 | 39 | 41 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 1966–67 | New York Rangers | NHL | 58 | 17 | 25 | 42 | 42 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1967–68 | New York Rangers | NHL | 59 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| NHL totals | 883 | 393 | 429 | 822 | 689 | 132 | 58 | 60 | 118 | 88 | ||||
Coaching record (Bernie boom boom Geoffrion legacy)
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | T | Pts | Finish | |||
| NYR | 1968–69 | 43 | 22 | 18 | 3 | (47) | 3rd in East | Resigned due to health problems |
| ATL | 1972–73 | 78 | 25 | 38 | 15 | 65 | 7th in West | Missed playoffs |
| ATL | 1973–74 | 78 | 30 | 34 | 14 | 74 | 4th in West | Lost in quarter-finals |
| ATL | 1974–75 | 52 | 20 | 22 | 10 | (54) | 4th in West | Fired midseason |
| MTL | 1979–80 | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | (36) | 1st in Norris | Resigned due to health problems |
| Total | 281 | 114 | 119 | 48 | ||||
KEEP YOUR STICK on the ICE.
Bernie boom boom Geoffrion legacy.
