This Day in Hockey History – August 2, 1932 – Begin the Boivin
(Photo: Leo Boivin, Topps Card, 1962, via Wikimedia Commons)
Leo Boivin was small for a defenseman but hit so hard he earned the nickname “Fireplug.” The stay-at-home defenseman stayed in the NHL for 19 seasons, coming close to the Stanley Cup three times (only to lose each to Montreal). Boivin’s first home was Prescott, Ontario, where he was born on August 2, 1932.
Growing up on the St. Lawrence River, Boivin skated from the age of 7 onward. He reminisced, “We had many a hockey game on the St. Lawrence River. We had some open-air rinks close by and anytime the river was frozen, we’d go there and skate too. I remember being [in] skates since I could walk.” As soon as he joined organized hockey, Boivin realized his preferred position. “I got into Bantam and Midget hockey and knew that I wanted to be a defenceman because defencemen got to stay on the ice longer.”
In 1948, Boivin began playing for the Inkerman Rockets and was recruited by the Boston Bruins to play for two seasons with the Port Arthur Bruins. In all three seasons, his juniors team made it to the Memorial Cup playoffs. “That was my game even in junior hockey,” said Boivin. “I just kept getting better and better at bodychecking.”
Despite Boivin’s two years preparing for the Bruins, in 1950 they traded his rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He explained, “Toronto made a deal that sent Vic Lynn and Bill Ezinicki to Boston and got Fernie Flaman, Phil Maloney and Kenny Smith. I was the amateur thrown in.” The Leafs needed to replace the lost Bill Barilko, so they gave the tough Boivin a couple tryout games while he played for the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL. Boivin played full time for the Leafs from 1952 until November 9, 1954, when he returned to the Bruins.
That November was the start of Boivin’s longest tenure in the NHL. He summarized, “I was sent to Boston and Joe Klukay was sent to Toronto. I stayed in Boston for pretty near twelve years.” At the start of his time there, according to Boivin, “We had some good teams. When I went there in ’54-55, we were struggling a little bit. New York was ahead of us in points but we came back and took fourth place. We ended up playing Montreal in the semi-finals. In the meantime, the following year, you couldn’t buy a ticket in Boston at all. We were sold out completely.” The height of his time in Boston came in 1957 and 1958, when the Bruins lost the Stanley Cup finals to Boivin’s childhood favorite, the Montreal Canadiens. “We had some great games with Montreal,” said Boivin. “We ended up playing Montreal twice for the Stanley Cup, once in 1957 and again in 1958.” From 1963 through his final four seasons there, Boivin captained the Bruins, who sank to the last place for three seasons.
With the Bruins struggling, Boivin was open to a trade that took place February 16, 1966. As Boivin told an interviewer, “Hap Emms asked me if I would go to Detroit. It was near the (trade) deadline. (Doug) Barkley lost his eye that year and Sid Abel wanted me to go there. I said, ‘Sure, I’ll go to Detroit.’ It was quite a feeling to go in there because they had guys like (Gordie) Howe and (Alex) Delvecchio that I had hit hard through the years. But they welcomed me with open arms. I really enjoyed playing there.” Boivin was one of the Red Wings who had not yet won the Stanley Cup, but again in 1966, he lost it to the Canadiens. That was the last hurrah for Boivin. “The next year, we couldn’t put it all together and we missed the playoffs.”
With the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft, Boivin found himself with the brand new Pittsburgh Penguins. “After sixteen years in the six-team league, expansion added on to my career,” said Boivin. “At that time, there were a lot of players playing in the American Hockey League that were great players who just didn’t get a chance.” Being new, the Penguins were not very successful during those inaugural two seasons.
In January 1969, the Penguins traded Boivin to another expansion team, the Minnesota North Stars. Boivin summarized his time there, “I went to Minnesota with Wren Blair and stayed there for a year and a half. I retired in 1970.” The retirement came about when the North Stars released him and the Buffalo Sabres tried to recruit him. Having played 1,150 regular-season games, Boivin retired with 72 goals, 250 assists, 322 points, and 1,192 penalty minutes.
Boivin’s career in hockey continued when he became a scout. He also coached for a few years. In 1975-76 and 1977-78, he filled in as coach for the St. Louis Blues, for whom he scouted for a decade. Then he coached for the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League, where he guided Denis Potvin. Boivin continued scouting for the Hartford Whalers until his second retirement in 1993. At that time, he returned to the St. Lawrence River area of his childhood.
In 1986, Boivin received his biggest honor, induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. “I think the biggest thrill of my career was being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. To be voted in among your peers, even today, is hard to explain. I had never been on a Stanley Cup (winning team), but to be in there with such great, great hockey players was just such a great honour. That, to me, was even better than winning the Stanley Cup!”
