Frank Boucher

Frank Boucher inherited some of his athletic ability from his father Tom, who played rugby football both for Ottawa College and for the Ottawa Rough Riders, winning Canadian championships in 1894, 1896, 1897 and 1901, playing alongside Tom "King" Clancy, whose son was the famous hockey player King Clancy.

Boucher recalls receiving his first pair of skates at age six for Christmas, double-runners which he promptly fell from and never used again.

Frank and the rest of the brothers would play games on outdoor rinks, including rinks on the Rideau River and for local New Edinburgh teams.

To pay for team equipment, the team members would canvass the neighbourhood, which included Rideau Hall, where Boucher would first meet Lady Byng.

Boucher attended Crichton Public School but dropped out of school at age thirteen.

He took a job as an office boy with the federal government munitions department for the duration of World War I. After World War I, Boucher joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and moved west.

While in Lethbridge working with the Mounties, Boucher played for the Lethbridge Vets along with Mountie teams he organized.

François Xavier Boucher (October 7, 1901 – December 12, 1977) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1901, Boucher was the youngest son in a family of six sons and two daughters born to Tom Boucher and Annie Carroll.

His paternal grandfather, Antoine Boucher was French, while his other grandparents were of Irish descent.

Frank Boucher was one of four brothers who played in the NHL.

His brother, Georges "Buck" Boucher, played on the Ottawa Senators dynasty of the 1920s, winning four Stanley Cups.

Brothers Bobby and Billy also played in the NHL.

There were two other brothers, Carroll and Joseph, and two sisters, Irene and Lily.

The family lived in the New Edinburgh neighbourhood of Ottawa.

Boucher played the forward position for the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers in the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Vancouver Maroons in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) between 1921 and 1938, and again from 1943 to 1944.

After a year working in Banff, Alberta, Frank returned home to play for the Ottawa Senators for the 1921–22 season, where he would play with his brother George.

Because he had played senior hockey out west, his playing rights belonged to the PCHA, but he was allowed to play the season for Ottawa on condition he then play for the Vancouver Maroons in following seasons.

In a twist of fate, he joined the Stanley Cup champions but the Senators lost the NHL title that year to the Toronto St. Pats, who would defeat Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Maroons would play in the 1923 Stanley Cup Finals against the Senators, losing 3-2.

His brother George still played for the Senators.

That series also featured brothers Cy and Corbett Denneny playing against each other, marking the first time two different sets of brothers faced each other in an NHL or Big Four championship series.

The Maroons played in the 1924 Stanley Cup playoffs against Montreal, who had the other Boucher brothers Billy and Bob, losing to the Canadiens in a best-of-three series 2–0.

A highlight of the second game, a Maroons 2–1 loss, was that all goals were scored by the Bouchers, two by Billy and one by Frank.

Boucher played for the Maroons until 1926.

In 1926, when the western league dissolved, his rights were sold to the Boston Bruins.

He never played for the Bruins as Conn Smythe then paid the Bruins $1500 for Boucher, on the advice of Bill Cook, whom he'd played against out west, but would play with during his time with the Rangers.

Boucher became a member of the original New York Rangers team.

He won the Stanley Cup three times, all with the Rangers: in 1928 and 1933 as a player, and in 1940 as the coach.

Boucher centered the famous Bread Line with the brothers Bill and Bun Cook, and together they helped the Rangers win the Stanley Cup in 1928 and 1933, also reaching the Finals in 1932.

Frank was not only a brilliant forward, but was also one of the game's classiest.

Lady Byng, wife of Viscount Byng, the Governor-General of Canada, donated a trophy to be awarded to the NHL's "most gentlemanly player."

While playing for the New York Rangers, Boucher won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy seven times in eight years.

He was then given the trophy outright, and Lady Byng donated another trophy to the NHL.

The Rangers hired him to coach the New York Rovers, a minor-league team that also played at Madison Square Garden, as his apprenticeship to coaching the Rangers.

Boucher played for the Rangers until he retired in 1937–38.

Boucher later became coach and the general manager of the New York Rangers between 1939 and 1955.

Frank's nephew, Sgt. Frank Boucher, son of Georges, was the head coach of Canada's 1948 Olympic gold medal winning ice hockey team - the Ottawa RCAF Flyers.

Boucher was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

Three of his brothers also played in the NHL, including Georges, who was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.