His name is from a different era, one where hockey was king, NHL scouts knew how to find Mid State Arena and no one could beat The Mount.
Go back and flick through the legends of Mount St. Charles hockey. Brian Lawton and Mathieu Schneider. Bryan Berard and Keith Carney. Garth Snow and Jeff Jillson.
The list is longer, of course, as Bill Belisle’s loaded teams rumbled through Rhode Island high school hockey in the 1980’s and `90’s, [...]
His name is from a different era, one where hockey was king, NHL scouts knew how to find Mid State Arena and no one could beat The Mount.
Go back and flick through the legends of Mount St. Charles hockey. Brian Lawton and Mathieu Schneider. Bryan Berard and Keith Carney. Garth Snow and Jeff Jillson.
The list is longer, of course, as Bill Belisle’s loaded teams rumbled through Rhode Island high school hockey in the 1980’s and `90’s, winning 26 state championships in a row.
Brian Boucher was a star smack in the middle of that run. He’s the netminder on the list of all-time Mountie greats, a son of Woonsocket through and through with two Quebec-born parents. After leaving home after high school, Boucher used a year of junior hockey to catapult himself into the 22nd pick of the first round in the 1995 NHL Draft. The first overall pick? Star defenseman Berard, who just happened to be Boucher’s best pal since they were six years old.
Boucher, now 42, played for seven teams over 13 seasons in the NHL. His highlight came in the 2000 season, his rookie year in Philadelphia, when he led the league in goals against average (1.91). The Flyers ran to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost a heartbreaker in a Game 7, 2-1.
Boucher was 23 years old at the time, a career full of saves and victories ahead of him. He didn’t walk away until he turned 36 and when he did he called a friend in Philly who offered a shot in the TV studio before Flyers games. That led to analyst work in Lehigh Valley and more studio work for the NHL Network.
Fast forward and Boucher still lives outside Philadelphia and Thursday night he was between the benches in Raleigh helping legendary play-by-play man Mike `Doc’ Emrick and analyst Mike Milbury call Game 4 of the Bruins-Hurricanes series.
“I don’t worry about who wins or loses anymore,” Boucher said with a laugh. “I’m down on the ice so you have to pay attention. Sticks or a puck can come flying but I’m good. I’ve sat on enough benches as a backup goalie.”
Boucher is bullish on the B’s, and not just because they raced to a 3-0 lead in the series. “Boston is the better team, up and down the lineup,” Boucher said. “Boston will have to go out and lose Game 4 for the series to go back to the Garden.”
Hockey fans could listen to the sharp, well-spoken Boucher all day but he has another passion that hits closer to his Rhode Island roots. Boucher’s parents have passed but he returns to the Blackstone Valley often to visit with a sister, brother and his in-laws. On virtually every trip he hears about the demise of Mount hockey, and Rhode Island hockey in general, as the days of skating from high school directly into the NHL have died.
“What would frustrate me is people would keep saying `Mount’s not the same, hockey’s not the same.’ I’d ask `what are you doing about it?’’ Boucher says.
A year or so ago Alan Tenreiro, Mount’s President, continued conversations about changing the school’s hockey model. Boucher, Berard, members of Belisle’s family and others played significant roles but Boucher offering a unique viewpoint. His 16-year old son, Tyler, is one of the top players of his age in the country. After playing area high school and junior hockey as a freshman, Tyler moved to Avon Old Farms in Connecticut. Neither experience satisfied a family that craves to be ``all-in’’ on the ice.
“Hockey has changed, especially at the highest levels,” Boucher said. “Tyler needed to play travel hockey and high school hockey at home and that was crazy. We were in the car all the time. At Avon, they play 25 or so games. That’s not enough.”
Next year Tyler Boucher will move to Michigan, live with a host family, attend an area high school and play as many as 60 games in the U.S. Development program. This opportunity is only available to the crème de la crème of youth hockey, like former Hendricken star Brett Berard. What about the next few levels of talent, players and families that also want to compete nationally and not be limited to 20 high school games?
That’s the void Mount St. Charles wants to fill. The `new’ Mount is building a dormitory to house hockey (and aspiring figure skaters) players who will no longer play in the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. They’ll be “all-in,” just like Boucher, Berard, Carney and Jillson were 20-plus years ago.
“Fall sports are dead for hockey players so you need to get on the ice in September and go through the winter,” Boucher said. “I give Alan and the leadership at Mount a lot of credit. He wants to re-establish Mount as a destination for hockey.”
The highest end Mount team will play in a league against teams from Connecticut, New Jersey, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. They’ll play up to 50 games and, to no one’s surprise, the school has received interest from players around the country and as far away as Finland.
“All parents want is more development and training at those schools,” Boucher said. “I’ve said if you want to develop players in Rhode Island, you have to give them a viable place to play. This will be a great option.”
Boucher insists that Mount wants a team to remain in the RIIL as well but what he’d really love to see is a hockey flashback, the return of stars to his home state.
“I’d love to see Rhode Island kids get drafted and play in the NHL again,” he said. “If they can do that coming out of Mount St. Charles again, all the better.”