Bob Armstrong, left, and Leo Boivin practice for the Boston Bruin Oldtimer Team, at Markham Centennial Arena, on Aug. 28, 1981.Barrie Davis/The Globe and Mail
Leo Boivin was a human bowling ball in search of a target.
For 17 seasons, the stumpy hockey defenceman was a feared opponent known for delivering exquisitely timed bodychecks of bone-rattling force. Hip-checks delivered with the efficiency of a scythe were known to send rivals cartwheeling onto the ice.
Woe be the stickhandling rival not paying attention while crossing a blueline patrolled by a player called Fireplug and nicknamed the Bouncer.
Mr. Boivin, who has died at 90, was known as a clean player. “All of us are in this together,” he said. “I try to hit fair and square.” It was not an opinion shared by all hockey people.
In a 1958 afternoon game broadcast to a national American television audience, Mr. Boivin needed mere minutes to send Gordie Howe, one of the game’s biggest stars, to the hospital with separated ribs.
The play infuriated Detroit general manager Jack Adams, who accused the defenceman of jabbing the butt end of his stick into his player’s torso.
“It was lousy, dirty, uncalled for, anything you want to call it,” Mr. Adams fumed. “It was a frameup all the way and they didn’t even call a penalty.”
When Sports Illustrated once asked six hockey stars to name the toughest player in the game, three picked Mr. Boivin, two cited teammate Fern Flaman and Bobby Hull chose Bill Gadsby. For his part, Mr. Gadsby said, “Personally, I’d say Boivin is the toughest. He’s the hardest body-checker in the business.”
Andy Hebenton of the New York Rangers sounded like he was giving a victim’s impact statement when he said, “If he manages to catch you unaware, with your head down, his check really shakes you up in spite of all the padding. It’s a thing you don’t easily forget.”
The accused pleaded guilty. “I’m simply paid to hit,” Mr. Boivin said.
Leo Joseph Boivin was born in Prescott, Ont., on Aug. 2, 1931. (For most of his career, the NHL listed his birth year as 1932, though his early Parkhurst hockey cards had the correct date.) He was one of three sons and five daughters born to the former Laura Duchesne and Captain Prudent Boivin, who was originally from Quebec’s Saguenay region. Capt. Boivin spent 35 years crossing the St. Lawrence River as a ferry pilot with the Prescott and Ogdensburg Ferry Co.
After playing junior hockey with the Inkerman Rockets and Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) West End Bruins as the property of the NHL’s Boston Bruins, the 19-year-old amateur defenceman was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a six-player deal.
In the summer of 1951, a plane carrying Leafs defenceman Bill Barilko, who had scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in April, disappeared while flying over Northern Ontario. As training camp broke in October, assistant manager Clarence (Hap) Day said, “the Leafs are badly in need of a defenceman and Boivin looked pretty good.”
Instead, the 5-foot-8, 183-pound defenceman began his professional career with the Pittsburgh Hornets, a Toronto farm team, under coach King Clancy. Two weeks later, Mr. Boivin quit the team and returned to Prescott.
“I’m just not sure I want to be a professional,” he said.
The prospect did not return to hockey until after Christmas.
After the parent club lost three players to injury, Mr. Boivin was called up, making his NHL debut at Maple Leaf Gardens against Detroit on March 8, 1952. Just eight minutes into his debut, he assisted on a goal by Cal Gardner. After two games, the defenceman was returned to the farm team.
He was a regular with the Maple Leafs for the following two seasons before being traded to Boston for penalty-killing specialist Joe Klukay early in his third season. It was one of a trio of trades that day by NHL owners in which the three most powerful clubs deliberately sought to bolster weaker teams.
Boston’s blue-collar fans loved the bashing Boivin, who helped guide them to two successive Stanley Cup finals in the late 1950s before serving as team captain for three seasons in the 1960s.
As he slowed, he no longer was able to time his checks. Some Boston fans began to boo and his wife decided to stop attending games at the Boston Garden. A trade to Detroit in 1966 had him leaving a last-place club for a contender and he again played in the Stanley Cup finals, losing to the Montreal Canadiens as he had in 1957 and ‘58.
While the trade rejuvenated his career, it also meant he missed out by a few months playing alongside Bobby Orr.
He returned to Pittsburgh when the Penguins franchise joined the NHL. The team selected him in the seventh round, 40th over all, of the expansion draft.
Mr. Boivin completed his NHL career with the Minnesota North Stars.
In 1,150 games, he scored 72 goals with 250 assists and 1,196 penalty minutes. Despite playing over 19 seasons, he only skated in 54 playoff games, scoring three goals with 10 assists.
He coached the Ottawa 67s junior hockey team for two seasons, handling Denis Potvin, a young defenceman who combined bodychecking with puck rushing and goal scoring. Mr. Boivin also had two brief stints as coach of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues in the 1970s.
Despite never having his name on the Stanley Cup, the defenceman was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986. That same year, the arena in his hometown was named the Leo Boivin Community Centre. He was named to the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame the following year and the Brockville and Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. An annual hockey tournament for players under 18 in Prescott carries his name.
Mr. Boivin died on Oct. 15 at his home in the village of New Wexford, near Prescott, Ont. He leaves his companion, Susan Daigle; a son, Dan Boivin; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a sister, Cecile Willard. He was predeceased by his wife, the former Patricia (Patsy) Kirkby, who died in 1998. He was also predeceased by sons Paul David Boivin, who died in 2017, aged 61, and Michel (Mitch) Joseph Boivin, who died in 2020, aged 67. The former player was also predeceased by two brothers and four sisters.
In a game in Toronto in 1952, Mr. Boivin knocked Gus Mortson of the Chicago Black Hawks into the Toronto goal. The player emerged to engage in fisticuffs. After the referee sent them to the penalty box, they renewed acquaintances by throwing haymakers. After five minutes of fistic fury, the Toronto police at last wedged the two combatants apart.
“In the olden days,” Mr. Boivin said years later, “they used to back up and let the guys go at it for a while. Let ‘em fight it out till they were tired. Now they jump right in,” he complained.