Ray Bourque

Raymond (Ray) Bourque was born on December 28, 1960 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Growing up, Bourque was a Montreal Canadiens fan and played his minor hockey within the Quebec system with the Sorel and Verdun Eperviers of the QMJHL. Bourque was the first round choice, eight overall, of the Boston Bruins in 1979 and joined the NHL that fall. In his rookie season he won the Calder Trophy as the best first year player, scoring 65 points in 80 games. Through out the 1980s Bourque would continue to grow as an NHL defenseman and anchor the Bruins defense for twenty years. Playing in Boston, he was always overshadowed by the Boston Celtics and compared to Bobby Orr, probably the best defenseman to have every played hockey. Bourque broke Gordie Howe's record for most All-Star nominations and won the Norris trophy as the league's best defenseman five times. He also played for Team Canada in three Canada Cup tournaments; 1981, 1984, and 1987.

In his twenty year stint with the Boston Bruins, Ray Bourque led the team in scoring on five different occasions and became one of three NHL defensemen to have scored over 300 goals. He became only the sixth defenseman in NHL history to score 30 goals in a season, accomplishing the feat in the 1983-84 season and became only the fifth player to notch 1,000 assists in the 1997-98 season. Bourque became captain of the Bruins in 1988-89 and led the Bruins to two Stanley Cup final appearances in 1988 and 1990. Even though the Boston team was always very competitive and near the top of league standings, the Stanley Cup Championship would elude Bourque when he was in Boston. In March 2000, the perrenial Bruin was traded along with Dave Andreychuck to the Colorado Avalanche for Brian Rolston, prospects Martin Grenier and Samual Pahlsson, and Colorado's first round choice in either the 2000 or 2001 Entry Draft.

In Colorado Ray would continue to make his mark, adding to his NHL accomplishments including his 19th consecutive All-Star appearence, surpassing Wayne Gretzky for the league record. He also accomplished something he had failed to with the Bruins in two decades, win a Stanley Cup championship. He was an integral part of the 2001 Cup winning Avalanche team and retired after hoisting Lord Stanley's mug. A Hall of Fame induction is all but guaranteed for one of hockey's greatest defensemen.

Here is a summary of Ray Bourque's NHL accomplishments;

Year    Team                 GP   G   A   Pts   Pim
1979-80 Boston Bruins        80  17  48    65    73 
1980-81 Boston Bruins        67  27  29    56    96 
1981-82 Boston Bruins        65  17  49    66    51 
1982-83 Boston Bruins        65  22  51    73    20 
1983-84 Boston Bruins        78  31  65    96    57 
1984-85 Boston Bruins        73  20  66    86    53 
1985-86 Boston Bruins        74  19  58    77    68 
1986-87 Boston Bruins        78  23  72    95    36 
1987-88 Boston Bruins        78  17  64    81    72 
1988-89 Boston Bruins        60  18  43    61    52 
1989-90 Boston Bruins        76  19  65    84    50 
1990-91 Boston Bruins        76  21  73    94    75 
1991-92 Boston Bruins        80  21  60    81    56 
1992-93 Boston Bruins        78  19  63    82    40 
1993-94 Boston Bruins        72  20  71    91    58 
1994-95 Boston Bruins        46  12  31    43    20 
1995-96 Boston Bruins        82  20  62    82    58 
1996-97 Boston Bruins        62  19  31    50    18 
1997-98 Boston Bruins        82  13  35    48    80 
1998-99 Boston Bruins        81  10  47    57    34 
1999-00 Boston Bruins        65  10  28    38    20 
1999-00 Colorado Avalanche   14   8   6    14     6
2000-01 Colorado Avalanche   80   7  52    59    48 
NHL Totals                 1612 410 1169 1579  1141



Trophies
Calder Memorial Trophy - 1 (1980)
James Norris Trophy  - 5 (1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994)
King Clancy Memorial Trophy - 1 (1992)


Championships
Stanley Cup - 1 (2001)

Team Pages:
Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche

Other Ray Bourque Resources