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Healthy, fit, and of the right age, many pro hockey players left their teams to serve during World War II. The NHL sometimes struggled to fill their rosters. At the start of the 1943-44 season, the Chicago Blackhawks pinned their hopes on young 19-year-old Hec Highton to mind their net. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers went the other direction when 42-year-old Coach Frank Boucher returned to active playing after being retired for six years. On November 6, 1943, for the first time, a forward over 40 scored on a goalie under 20.

Frank Boucher, born at Ottawa, Ontario, October 7, 1901, was the third of three brothers who skated professionally. He began his NHL career in 1921 when he signed with the Ottawa Senators. However, the following year, they sold him to the Vancouver Maroons of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). After four seasons out west, Vancouver traded Boucher to the New York Rangers, where he remained. He first retired during the 1937-38 season and almost immediately began coaching the Rangers. As they struggled during the war, Boucher laced up his skates once more.

Meanwhile, Hec Highton was not even alive until Boucher was already skating for Vancouver. Born at Medicine Hat, Alberta, December 10, 1923, Highton made his NHL debut on Halloween in 1943. The sold-out crowd of 17,124 (including 500 service men guests) was the largest ever for an opening night. Unfortunately, Chicago fell to the visiting Maple Leafs 4-1. According to the Tribune, “Altho nervousness played its part in Highton’s pro debut, three goals were the result of rebounds, the terror of all net minders. . . . The consensus of opinion among the Hawks’ players is that Highton, with a couple of breaks in the Hawks’ favor, would have won the game.” Apparently, “Manager Paul Thompson praised the work” of the rookie.

The two faced each other at Madison Square Garden for a sell-out crowd of 15,857, the largest the Garden had seen in two seasons. As the New York Daily News put it, the game was a “ding-dong battle, thrice tied.” The Chicago Tribune gave credit to Boucher who “personally led the way to two deadlocks.”

After the first period went scoreless, the teams alternated scoring in the second. Chicago got the first, but New York tied. Half a minute after Chicago pulled ahead again, “old man Boucher sneaked near the Hawks’ net and converted a short jab after passes from McDonald and Gooden.” Just 17 seconds into the third period, Chicago scored again. Then, as the Daily News described the scene, “Boucher led a rink-length dash that ended against the Hawk backboards, but he passed behind the cage before being pinned. McDonald picked it up, circled to the far corner of the cage and when the goalie came in to meet him, he shoved the disk a few feet to Gooden who slid it home from three feet out to make it 3-3.” The Tribune summarized, “Boucher scored the second Ranger goal and helped on the third with an expert pass.”

However, Highton’s Blackhawks got the last laugh. With just over five minutes remaining, Doug Bently notched the game-winner. Chicago had their first win of the season, and in his third NHL appearance, Highton had his first NHL victory. The Rangers’ home opener had turned into their fourth-straight loss.

Neither Highton nor Boucher stayed in the NHL beyond that season. In his 24 NHL games, Highton had a record of 10-14-0. Chicago traded him to Providence’s AHL team on January 7, 1944. He spent four more seasons in the AHL and then three in the PCHL. Boucher played a total of 15 games that season, scoring four goals and ten assists. He returned to coaching and remained thus with the Rangers until 1949 and for part of the 1953-54 season. Until 1968, Boucher held the record as the oldest position player to skate in the NHL.

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