The Juniors honor Émile “Butch” Bouchard

The Montreal Juniors Hockey Club held a ceremony Friday night in honour of a Canadian hockey legend, Émile ‘Butch’ Bouchard, in front of an array of journalists from all corners of the sport, as well as several members of the Bouchard family. Meanwhile, the Saint John Seadogs were also the visitors, bringing their record of 5-2 to the Verdun Auditorium to challenge the Juniors. Montreal would wind up winning the game by a score of 7-4, bringing the Juniors’ record to 5-3.

The 3122 fans on hand would not have to wait very long for a goal, as Juniors’ captain Nicolas Chouinard put his team up on the board at 36 seconds of the first period. He was followed up by his opponent and Canucks’ prospect Yann Sauvé shortly thereafter, and the score going into the first intermission would climb up to 4-3 in favour of Montreal, featuring two goals by the Juniors’ Loïc Poudrier. Other scorers included Alexandre Leduc, Zack Phillips, and Marc-André Levasseur.

In the second frame, one goal was added for each team. Chris Thorne scored for Montreal while opponent Steven Anthony added a marker for the Seadogs. In the third period, Eliezer Sherbatov would get his 3rd of the season for his Juniors before his teammate Pier-Antoine Dion saw his penalty shot attempt stopped by Karel St-Laurent. Sherbatov would get another goal before period’s end, without any other opposition from the Sea Dogs. Montreal outshot their opponents by a margin of 34-25.

The Juniors’ next game is this Sunday against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, in a special event highlighting Canada’s paralympic athletes hoping to represent their country in the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. The team then embarks on a weekend roadtrip to Baie-Comeau and Chicoutimi before returning to the Auditorium on October 14th to face the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in a Wednesday night matchup that kicks off at 7:35 p.m.

In the Footsteps of a Legend

Born on September 4th, 1919, Émile « Butch » Bouchard left his mark in Montreal’s junior hockey history from 1939 to 1969 as a player, coach, general manager, team and league president and journalist. Since 1976, the QMJHL's Defenseman of the Year Trophy is named in his honor. “Butch” Bouchard was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966