Derek Boogaard
Derek Leendert Boogaard was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played for the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League.
A native of Saskatchewan, where he grew up in several different communities as the son of a Mountie, he was known primarily as a fighter and enforcer throughout his career, from junior hockey to the pros. His fighting prowess earned him the nicknames of "Boogeyman" and "the Mountie", and made him a favourite with fans. In 2007, he was voted as the second-most-intimidating player in the NHL, behind Georges Laraque, who attributed his retirement in part to a desire to avoid the serious injury Boogaard could inflict, such as the cheekbone fracture Todd Fedoruk suffered that had to be repaired with metal plates.
Boogaard died at 28 from an accidental drug and alcohol overdose while recovering from a concussion. A posthumous examination of his brain found he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy more advanced than that seen in some former enforcers. That disclosure came shortly after the deaths of two other hockey enforcers, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak, both of whom were also under 40 and had similar health issues. The three deaths triggered a debate in the hockey community about the issues faced by enforcers and their place in the game. His parents unsuccessfully sued the NHL and its players' union over his death.
Childhood and family
Boogaard was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the first of four children of Len Boogaard, an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and his wife Joanne, who were living in Hanley at the time. Derek Boogaard had two younger brothers, Ryan and Aaron, and a sister, Krysten. The family moved every few years due to the transfers required by the RCMP. While they lived for a time near Toronto, most of Len Boogaard's postings were in Saskatchewan.Boogaard grew up in Herbert, a predominantly Mennonite community. He was taller than most children his age, reaching in height and by the age of 15. His adolescent growth spurt led to chronic pain in his knees. In school he struggled, especially with reading—his father believes Boogaard had "cognitive and behavioral issues", in particular impulsivity.
He was a frequent target of bullying, due to his size, shyness, and being the son of a police officer. When challenged to fights, he often won them decisively, though friends and family say he did not seek them out. "Derek would certainly stick up for the team, he would stick up for his teammates," recalled one of his youth hockey coaches, "but wasn't mean at all."
His family encouraged him to play hockey as an outlet, and his father would often drive him to distant games in his police car, an experience Boogaard was to recall fondly later in his life. He quit hockey briefly at the age of 12, but his family talked him into returning. In his early teens he stated that his goal in life was to play in the NHL, and idolized Wendel Clark, another Saskatchewan native who was at the time the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Boogaards later moved to Melfort. Len would often drive his sons to Saskatoon for additional training in skating and boxing. In youth hockey Boogaard, because of his size, often got penalties that, his coach says, were not his fault. Parents of both teammates and opposing players complained that he was too large to be playing with children his age.
Playing career
One night, while playing for the Melfort Mustangs, an unspecified incident led Boogaard to jump into the opposing bench and attempt to fight with opposing players, whose team was leading by a wide margin. "He had gone ballistic," said his father, who was in attendance. "It was something I hadn't seen before." Boogaard was ejected from the game, and after changing out of his uniform went to sit next to his father in the stands. Later they were approached by scouts from the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League. They were impressed by Boogaard's boldness and offered him the chance to play junior hockey with the team, a first stop toward reaching the NHL.Western Hockey League
By the time he began his junior hockey career, Boogaard had realized that if he wanted to make it to the NHL, he would only be able to do so as an enforcer, since fighting was his strongest skill. In his first scrimmage with the Pats, he was challenged by another large player on the team. Boogaard broke the other player's nose with his first punch.Regina Pats
His parents divorced but both moved to Regina to be close to him. Boogaard's career there did not get off to a good start when he backed out of his first fight in a game against the Moose Jaw Warriors. As a result, he was reassigned to the lower-division Regina Pats of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. He played there for most of the 1998–99 season, scoring two goals and five points in 35 games, with 166 penalty minutes.The season was not a happy one for Boogaard. At one point he begged the coach to let him play during a tournament in Calgary, but was unsuccessful. He quit after the game and, his mother recalled, cried all the way home when she came to pick him up. That summer he got into a bar fight with some friends one night, during which, he wrote later, they beat up seven men around the age of 30.
By the next season he had reached his full adult height of. The Pats called him back to training camp, and he got into 12 fights during the four scrimmages. He played in five games with the team, earning no points and 17 PIM. Early in his rookie season, he was traded to the Prince George Cougars after losing a fight in a game against the Kelowna Rockets.
Prince George Cougars
During his first season he suited up for 20 games, registering no points and had the third-highest penalty minutes total on the team with 149. He lost his first fight, against Eric Godard, a future NHL enforcer with the New York Islanders. "It was a very long year for me," he wrote later. "I struggled with everything it seemed." He had difficulty following rules and failed classes at school. Late in the season he suffered a broken jaw in a game against the Tri-City Americans, and was sent home to Regina to heal. He was expected to lose weight due to the liquid diet forced on him by having his jaw wired shut, but actually gained it when he found ways to get food through gaps in the wiring.After considering quitting hockey again during training camp, he returned to the Cougars for a second season in 2000–01. He finally found a host family he could get along with, and began winning his fights on the ice. He avenged losses from previous seasons, including the one in which he had been injured. Prince George fans began chanting his name at games, and one poll named him the toughest player in the WHL's Western Conference.
In 61 games he scored a goal and nine points. His team-leading 245 PIM was the eighth highest total in the league. In the playoffs, Boogaard scored a goal in six games, while accumulating 30 PIM. "I don't think I ever saw our rink, or Derek, that happy as the time he scored that goal ", said one of his assistant coaches. Boogaard agreed, writing "It was the best feeling I had the last 2 years." After the season, the Minnesota Wild drafted Boogaard in the seventh round, 202nd overall, in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.
Boogaard began the 2001–02 season with the Cougars, appearing in two games, recording no points and 16 PIM. He was then traded to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Medicine Hat Tigers
Boogaard finished the 2001–02 season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, as he appeared in 46 games with the team, scoring a goal and nine points, while having 178 PIM, third highest on the team.He spent part of the 2002–03 with Medicine Hat, as he played in 27 games, getting a goal and three points, while registering 65 PIM.
National Hockey League
Minnesota Wild
Boogaard signed a professional contract with the Minnesota Wild, and they placed Boogaard with the Louisiana IceGators of the ECHL to finish the 2002–03 season. His coaches were told to develop him as an enforcer. They did not foresee him making it to the NHL, but his work ethic impressed them. "Give him credit", one later told The New York Times. "This guy willed his way to the NHL."In 33 games with Louisiana, Boogaard had a goal and three points, along with a team high 240 PIM. In two playoff games, Boogaard had no points and no penalty minutes. He continued his skating and boxing lessons off the rink. He worked out by running up hills and practised his skills, both with coaches and on his own.
Chronic pain from older injuries grew during his time in the minors. His shoulder ached from an old collarbone fracture. One morning his back pain was so intense he could not lace his own skates. The team doctors frequently dispensed various medications to players so they could cope with such pain and the stressful schedule. Boogaard is said to have taken advantage of this.
The next season he was assigned to the Houston Aeros of the AHL, where he had no goals and four points in 53 games. His 207 PIM led the Aeros. In the playoffs, appeared in two games, earning an assist, while posting 16 PIM.
With the 2004–05 NHL lockout cancelling the NHL season, Boogaard returned to the Aeros for the 2004–05 season, as he scored a goal and five points in 56 games, as well as leading the team with 259 PIM. In five playoff games, Boogaard had no points, and put up 38 PIM.
In Houston his fame as an enforcer began to grow, as he was winning his fights. The team ran replays of his fights on the arena's video board, calling it the "Boogeyman Cam". They gave out a bobblehead of Boogaard, complete with bobbling fists. An opposing coach told his Aeros counterparts that Boogaard was their team's most valuable player due to his intimidating presence.
Boogaard made his NHL debut in the 2005–06 season. He made the Wild roster coming out of training camp when coach Jacques Lemaire saw the same intimidating effect on other teams his opposing coaches had, as well as the young player's propensity for winning fights.
The rookie first skated on October 5, 2005, getting no points in 3:58 of ice time in a 6–3 win over the Calgary Flames. Within the season's second week he would have his first assist, fight and goal. The assist came on a goal by Wes Walz on October 14, 2005, in a 5–3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Two days later, he had his first fight, knocking the Anaheim Ducks' Kip Brennan to the ice. He then scored his first NHL goal on October 19, 2005, beating San Jose Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov in a 6–1 win over the San Jose Sharks. Boogaard finished his rookie season in the NHL with two goals, six points, while leading the Wild with 158 PIM in 65 games.
In 2006–07, Boogaard appeared in 48 games with the Wild, earning an assist, and leading the club with 120 PIM. Early that season, in another game against Anaheim, he broke Todd Fedoruk's cheekbone so severely in a fight that it had to be surgically rebuilt, with metal plates and mesh, adversely affecting Fedoruk's career. He made his NHL playoff debut on April 11, 2007, getting no points in a 2–1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Boogaard earned his first playoff point, earning an assist on April 17, 2007, in a 4–1 win over the Ducks. He finished the playoffs with four games played, one assist, and 20 PIM.
Near the end of one of the games in the Ducks series, with Minnesota leading, the two teams were bickering and taunting each other. During a timeout, the fans chanted Boogaard's name. He had not played at all in that game, and Lemaire sent him in. He simply skated in front of the Anaheim bench, and smiled. The crowd roared its applause. "If the roof wasn't screwed down, it would have flew off," his mother recalled. "He didn't have to fight, he didn't have to get hurt, he didn't have to hurt anybody. That was the best. He could just go out there and skate around." A video clip of the incident is a favourite of Boogaard's family and friends.
Boogaard played in 34 games with the Wild in the 2007–08 season, getting no points, while registering 74 PIM, the fourth highest total on the team. Fedoruk, who he had so severely injured the season before, signed with the Wild, becoming a teammate and friend. Boogaard himself became a popular player off the ice, his No. 24 jersey becoming one of the team's bestsellers. "It was the fierceness of his brand and the gentleness of his character" commented a team executive. In the playoffs, Boogaard went pointless in six games, while putting up 24 PIM, second highest total on the club.
He played in 51 games with Minnesota in 2008–09, getting three assists, and leading the team with 87 PIM. He earned an assist on October 16, 2008, against the Florida Panthers, which was his first point since getting an assist on February 8, 2007, also against the Florida Panthers. That represented a 49-game pointless drought.
During the season he had begun taking prescription pain relief medicine for back pain. After two surgeries later in the season, he was also prescribed Percocet. His brother Aaron says that due to his size Boogaard usually had to take extra amounts of the pills for them to have any effect. "He'd go through 30 pills in a couple of days. He'd need 8 to 10 at a time to feel OK.
He found that the Wild's team doctors did not keep track of who had prescribed what, and eventually secured from eight of them prescriptions for 11 different drugs, most of them containing hydrocodone, such as Vicodin. He also frequented a downtown Minneapolis sports bar where patrons who recognized him bought him drinks. He bought thousands of dollars' worth of additional prescription pills from another acquaintance. Often he would take eight OxyContin tablets at once, chewing them to offset the drug's time-release formula. His brother, Aaron, who lived with Boogaard during the off-season, often would hide the pills.
He developed an addiction, and missed training camp prior to the 2009–10 season. The team said he was recovering from a concussion, but he was actually at a drug rehabilitation centre in Southern California. He returned five games into the season, defeating David Koci of the Colorado Avalanche in his first fight.
Friends, teammates, coaches and family said that while Boogaard's play had not changed, his personality had. "He just was kind of—a blank face," recalled John Scott. He fell asleep at odd times and was late for meetings and workouts. The team warned other players not to share their own prescription medicines with him.
That season, Boogaard appeared in 57 games, his highest total since his rookie season in 2005–06. Boogaard had four points, and a team-high 105 PIM. On March 7, 2010, Boogaard was suspended for two games after a knee-on-knee hit against Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Jones.
After the season, the Wild discreetly offered to trade him to other teams. Boogaard became an unrestricted free agent. The Wild offered to double his salary, but other teams could offer more. The Oilers and New York Rangers each offered $1.5 million a year. His family wanted him to sign with Edmonton so he could be closer to them, but he decided to play in New York instead. "It's one of the great cities to be at and you're always on center stage when you're out there, so I'm excited," Boogaard told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The four-year, $6.5 million contract he signed with his new team was a lucrative deal for an enforcer.