The toughest player in the National Hockey League since Bob Probert has passed away at the age of 28. Regina’s Derek Boogaard was 28 years old, and he a major difference on and off the ice.
At one point Boogaard went 100+ games without scoring, but he wasn’t in the lineup to score goals, his role was to protect his star players such as Marian Gaborik. If and when he needed to he fought other enforcers becoming the undisputed heavyweight champ.
If you look up the word intimidation you’d see a picture of the6’7 270 pound Boogey man. Iintimidation is it's not necessary to prove that the behavior was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened. In the 2007 playoffs he was playing for the Wild, the previous shift Anaheim’s Brad May and a few more Ducks, beat up on some of the Wild. Then Minnesota coach Jauque Lemaire put Boogaard out the next shift, he was stairing at Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry, but did no physical harm to them. The message was sent, there was no more shenanigans the rest of the series after that shift.
To say players were scared of Boogaard is an understatment. In 2007 he fought landed a punch so hard onto Todd Fedoruk’s face, Fedoruk needed to undergo surgery to reconstruct his cheek using titanium plates. In all Boogaard played 593 hockey games in the WHL, ECHL, AHL and NHL he fought 2006 times and according to dropyourgloves.com he went 108-36-25 in this those scraps. In his first NHL season he went 9-4-4, six wins via TKO 1 via KO.
Off the ice
Boogaard was both controversial and giving at the same time. In the offseason, Derek and his brother fellow enforcer Aaron held a fight camp in Regina for kids the age of 12-18 years old. The purpose of the camp was to teach the kids how to fight without getting hurt, the position of the Boogaard camp was encourages children to fight.
But he had a gentler side off the ice as well. Boogaard was a supporter of Defending the Blue Line Foundation, which is a non-profit chartiable foundation which gives children of military familes a chance to play hockey. Then he created Boogaard’s Booguardians” which brought in military familes to NY Ranger games.
He played his first five years with the Wild and was so loved they are holding a memorial service open to the public at the Excel Energy Center. Boogard’s family is donating his brain to Boston University Medical School that studys the brains of athletes in contact sports exspecially with degentraive brain trauma.
RIP Boogey Man I and other will miss you greatly.
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