"Boom Boom" ... he invented the slap shot

In 1994 I volunteered to help out at Canada's Sports Hall of Fame inductions. 

Quebec Loved "Boom"

One of the inductees was Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion.

All of the inductees arrived early at Toronto's Royal York Hotel for the evening's festivities. It was funny to see them wandering the halls of the hotel during the afternoon looking for something to do.

One of my jobs was to set up the reception area for the inductees and their family members.

I was alone and hard at it when "Boom Boom" Geoffrion walked into the room.

He was tanned with a million-dollar smile. He was beaming and obviously very excited about what was to take place that evening.

He greeted me like I was a buddy and suggested we "take a seat and have a drink".  I poured.

The moment reminded me of a Sinatra story. Sinatra was still a rookie in Hollywood when he found himself in a room alone with his childhood idol Ronald Coleman. He said he was "numb" but somehow muddled through it and when it was over he felt like they had been pals all of his life.

As a hockey nut, I'm sure I was blushing as I sat down face to face beside the guy who invented the slap shot. I'm sure he sensed my nervousness. However, his manner and charm soon settled me down and it gave me the opportunity to congratulate him on his induction.

Incidentally, after four broken noses and hundreds of stitches, he was still the definition of "ruggedly handsome".

He told me that when he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 he didn't attend. He said the affair was "stag" and because his wife, who was the daughter of legendary Canadien Howie Morenz, wasn't invited he didn't attend. He nodded approvingly when I told him that Hall of Fame Honoured Member Ted Lindsay didn't attend his induction in 1966 for the same reason.

Then I made a mistake. 

I asked him what he thought about Gretzky and how he would play during his era.

He said, "He and the rest of the Original Six players would never allow him to play the way he does in "today's" NHL." He reminded me that his teammate Doug Harvey had "surgically" removed the spleen of Ranger, Red Sullivan because he stayed a little too long in the slot.

"Gretzky would never survive in our league." I wasn't a cheerleader for the "Great One" but it appeared that Mr. Geoffrion hadn't spent enough time over the past ten years watching 99 take ownership of just about every record in the NHL book.

But the last thing I wanted was to argue with him.

Interestingly, while talking about himself he talked in the third person. 

And, it wasn't Bernie did this or Geffrion did that ... it was "Boom" did this and "Boomer" did that. He was a little hard to follow in the beginning but once I got the hang of it, I was "Booming" right along with him.

Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion earned 6 Stanley Cups and was only the second player to score 50 goals in a season.

He was a superstar in every way.

When he was on the ice, you couldn't take your eyes off him. 

All of Quebec loved him.

"Ruggedly Handsome"

He told me when his career ended he went to the Hockey Hall of Fame and requested the return of all the trophies and items that he had donated over the years. They were all collecting dust in the Hall's basement and he wanted to sell them at auction to raise money to help send his grandchildren to university.

There was an uproar but he got what he wanted and his children were looked after.

His action actually started a rush on Hall's archives.

Henri Richard, Beliveau, Bobby Hull, Lafleur and several others did the same thing.

"Boom" passed away in 2006.

With the passing of Jean Beliveau and "Boom" and player/coach Pat Quinn and Rocket and "Teeder" and Makita and Hull and Lindsay and "Red" Kelly and Gordie and Lafleur and Bossy and Bruce Hood in his ref stripes and all the other greats who went before, you have to imagine that they will be able to ice a pretty good looking game in that big arena in the sky.

As a hockey fan/player, don't you hope there really is a big arena in the sky?