MONTREAL - Emile (Butch) Bouchard, a longtime Montreal Canadiens captain and a four-time Stanley Cup winner, died Saturday following a long illness. He was 92.
His death was confirmed by his friend and sports analyst Ron Fournier, who said Bouchard was surrounded by his family when he died.
Bouchard scored 49 goals in 785 games during his 15-year NHL career. The defenceman captained the Habs for eight years and retired after the 1955-56 season.
The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup four times while he was with the team, and twice while he was captain.
Born in Montreal on Sept. 4, 1919, Bouchard wasn't planning on a career in hockey after originally wanting to work in banking or as a beekeeper.
He played many sports growing up, including baseball and boxing, but it was only around age 16 that he began to take hockey seriously.
After borrowing $35 from his brother to buy equipment, Bouchard began playing for the Verdun Maple Leafs of Quebec's old Provincial Senior League.
The rugged six-foot-two, 205 pounder quickly got noticed and the Montreal Canadiens offered him his first professional contract to play with their minor league club in Providence, R.I. He played 12 games for the team in 1940-41.
Bouchard grabbed the big club's attention at training camp the following year, when he made the 80-kilometre trip by bicycle from his home in Montreal to the training site in St-Hyacinthe, Que.
Bouchard earned a spot on the blue-line that year and played the next 15 seasons with the club, establishing a reputation as one of the best hitters of the era.
He was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1966.
After retiring, Bouchard became a successful Montreal businessman. Hockey didn't keep him from beekeeping during his playing career. From 1938 to 1950, his 1.2 million bees produced up to 6,800 kilograms of honey annually.
In 1948, he opened his own restaurant, called Butch Bouchard, in downtown Montreal. It was a mainstay in the area, hosting cabaret shows and musicians until it closed in 1983.
Bouchard also combined business and sports, becoming the director of the Montreal Royals of baseball's International League in 1956, which was at the time farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1957 he was promoted to president. The club played its final season in 1960.
Bouchard married painter Marie-Claire Macbeth in 1946. The couple had five children, including former NHL player Pierre Bouchard, who played for the Canadiens from 1970 until 1978.
