Bernie Geoffrion
| Bernie Geoffrion | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hockey Hall of Fame, 1972 | |||
Geoffrion holds the puck with which he scored his 270th goal in Toronto on Dec. 7, 1960.
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| Born |
February 14, 1931 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
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| Died | March 11, 2006 (aged 75) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
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| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) | ||
| Weight | 166 lb (75 kg; 11 st 12 lb) | ||
| Position | Right wing | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for |
Montreal Canadiens New York Rangers |
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| Playing career | 1950–1968 | ||
Joseph Bernard André Geoffrion (French pronunciation: [ʒɔfʁjɔ̃]; February 14, 1931 – March 11, 2006), nicknamed Boom Boom, was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. Generally considered as one of the innovators of the slapshot, he 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. On January 1, 2017, in a ceremony prior to the Centennial Classic, Geoffrion was part of the first group of players to be 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 [1]) from sportswriter Charlie Boire of the Montreal Star 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. Half the time, he played left-wing on Montreal's front line with fellow superstars Richard and Jean Béliveau, helping the Canadiens to six Stanley Cup championships, and at other times was right wing on the No. 2 line. But Geoffrion had a hard time convincing the NHL of his considerable talents; Maurice Richard, Andy Bathgate (New York Rangers) 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 honours went to Richard, while Geoffrion only hooked up on the Second.
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