Ray Bourque

Raymond Jean Bourque (born December 28, 1960) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey player. He holds records for most career goals, assists, and points by a defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman five times, while finishing second for that trophy a further six times. He also twice finished second in the voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy, a rarity for a defenceman. He was named to the end-of-season All-Star teams 19 times (second only to Gordie Howe's 21 selections), with a record 13 on the first-team and six on the second-team. Bourque became nearly synonymous with the Boston Bruins franchise, for which he played 21 seasons and became Boston's longest-serving captain. Bourque finished his career with the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he won his only Stanley Cup championship in his final NHL game. He is often considered one of the best offensive defenseman in NHL history, and in 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. Following his retirement his #77 was retired by both the Bruins and the Avalanche. Bourque also played with Canada for three Canada Cups and in the 1998 Winter Olympics, the latter being the first time that active NHL players were eligible to participate.…

Raymond Jean Bourque (born December 28, 1960) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey player. He holds records for most career goals, assists, and points by a defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman five times, while finishing second for that trophy a further six times. He also twice finished second in the voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy, a rarity for a defenceman. He was named to the end-of-season All-Star teams 19 times (second only to Gordie Howe's 21 selections), with a record 13 on the first-team and six on the second-team. Bourque became nearly synonymous with the Boston Bruins franchise, for which he played 21 seasons and became Boston's longest-serving captain. Bourque finished his career with the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he won his only Stanley Cup championship in his final NHL game. He is often considered one of the best offensive defenseman in NHL history, and in 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. Following his retirement his #77 was retired by both the Bruins and the Avalanche. Bourque also played with Canada for three Canada Cups and in the 1998 Winter Olympics, the latter being the first time that active NHL players were eligible to participate. Since his retirement Bourque has been involved in many philanthropic activities in the New England area and also owns an Italian restaurant in Boston. ==Early life== Bourque was born in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, the son of Raymond Bourque Sr. and Anita Allain. Both of his parents were originally from New Brunswick, and moved to Montreal in the 1950s. His mother died from cancer when he was 12 years old, while his father died in 2009¹. Bourque was raised bilingual, speaking both English and French at home, though he went to a French school. He began playing hockey at the age of 5, and dropped out of school at the age of 15 to devote all his time to his junior team, the Verdun Black Hawks. ==Playing career== ===Early career=== Bourque was the third-round pick of the Trois-Rivières Draveurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; now known as the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League). Halfway through his rookie season, head coach and general manager (GM) Michel Bergeron traded Bourque to Sorel for high-scoring Benoît Gosselin. After a stellar junior career with Sorel and Verdun of the QMJHL, in which he was named the league's best defenceman in 1978 and 1979, Bourque was drafted eighth overall by the Bruins in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, with a first-round draft choice obtained from the Los Angeles Kings in a 1977 trade for goaltender Ron Grahame. Boston GM Harry Sinden had intended to select defenceman Keith Brown, but Brown was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks immediately prior to Boston's selection. Panicking, the Bruins settled on Bourque, allegedly against their better judgment. ===Colorado Avalanche (2000–2001)=== Bourque was traded from Boston Bruins to the Colorado Avalanche on March 6, 2000. Although Bourque played just one-and-a-half seasons with the Avalanche, he proved to be a force both on the ice and in the locker room. Bourque became teammates with goaltender Patrick Roy, who as a previous member of the Montreal Canadiens had frequent playoff encounters with Bourque's Boston Bruins. In the remainder of the 1999-2000 season, Bourque helped the struggling Avalanche improve their form and capture their division. During the playoffs, they advanced to the conference finals, where they lost to the Dallas Stars in a hard-fought series. Bourque hit the post in the last minutes of Game 7, which would have tied the game after his team rallied from a 3–0 deficit in the third period to 3–2. Bourque returned to the Avalanche for the 2000–01 season and was named as an alternate captain. He led all Colorado defencemen in scoring with 7 goals and 52 assists in 80 games, and formed a solid defensive pairing with Adam Foote and Rob Blake, the latter of whom the Avs received from the Los Angeles Kings in a trade. Bourque was named to the post-season First All-Star team, finishing as runner-up to the Detroit Red Wings' Nicklas Lidström for the Norris Trophy. The Avalanche advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, against the defending Cup holders, the New Jersey Devils. Bourque scored the game-winning goal in game three. After the Avalanche lost game five at home which led them trailing the series 3-2, Bourque flew in his relatives for game six in New Jersey, which the Avalanche won 4-0 to even the series. The Avalanche then won game seven at home with a score of 3-1 to capture their second Stanley Cup in franchise history. During the post-game presentation that followed the Avalanche's victory in the decisive seventh game, team captain Joe Sakic broke with tradition and gave the Cup to Bourque so he could skate with it first. Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy, whose fourth championship had come the same day as Bourque's first, said of the Stanley Cup and his teammate, "A name was missing from that [Cup], and today it is back to normal." Bourque had waited longer to win his first Cup than any other Cup-winning player had in the 108-year history of the Stanley Cup, having played 1,612 regular season and 214 playoff games before winning the ultimate prize. On June 12, 2001, three days after the Cup victory, Bourque brought the Cup back to Boston for an emotional rally attended by some 20,000 fans at Boston's City Hall Plaza. Throughout the Stanley Cup Final, local Massachusetts newspapers covered the series as though the Avalanche were the hometown team, and TV ratings for game seven were higher in Massachusetts everywhere besides Denver. During the event Bourque told the crowd "This [Boston] is home for me and my family. I had some great years with the Bruins, but I'd never come really close to Stanley, my friend," "But to touch this, we felt there was a move that had to be made." Bourque retired shortly thereafter, having set defensive regular-season records in goals (410) and assists (1169) for 1579 points. During the 2000–01 season, which would be the last for both players, Bourque surpassed Paul Coffey (who had signed as a free agent with the Bruins and was waived in December 2000) to become the all-time leader in goals, assists and points for a defenceman at any senior professional level. ==International play== Bourque made his international debut for Team Canada at the 1981 Canada Cup, He scored one goal and four assists in sevem games as Team Canada lost in the final to the Soviet Union. Bourque was then selected for the team once again in 1984 where he recorded four assists in eight games as he and team Canada won the gold medal 6–5 over Sweden. Bourque also participated in the 1987 Canada Cup, where he scored 2 goals and 6 assists as he helped Team Canada win another gold medal. Bourque did not play in the 1991 edition, despite attempts by Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier to persuade him to take part. Bourque also played for the NHL All-Stars in Rendez-vous '87 against the Soviet Union. Bourque played for the Team Canada in the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first edition in which active NHL players were eligible to participate. Controversially, the team captaincy went to Eric Lindros, passing over longer-tenured NHL captains like Bourque, Wayne Gretzky, and Steve Yzerman. Bourque led all defencemen in scoring with one goal and two assists in six games. Canada reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated by the Czech Republic after a 1-1 tie, as Bourque and four of his teammates could not beat Czech goaltender Dominik Hašek in the shootout. Fans and sportscasters have alternatively praised and criticized the decision to have Bourque in the shootout instead of Gretzky; Gretzky was the all-time leading scorer in the NHL but was mediocre on breakaways, while Bourque was a perennial shot accuracy champion at the NHL All-Star skills competition. General manager Bobby Clarke said “As great a player as he was, defencemen don’t get breakaways, so to put him in that position was probably unfair. It was a poor decision in my opinion not to use Gretzky and to put Raymond in that position.” A demoralized Team Canada then lost the bronze medal match to Finland 3-2 and went home empty-handed. ==Jersey number== For a majority of his NHL career, Bourque wore jersey number 77. After he retired following the 2000–01 season, both the Bruins and the Avalanche honored him by retiring number 77. When he was initially called up to the Bruins, Bourque was assigned the number 7, which had been worn by former Bruins star forward Phil Esposito from the time he was acquired by the team in 1967 until he departed in 1976 via trade. Bourque was the third player to be issued the number following Esposito's departure, following Sean Shanahan and Bill Bennett. In 1987, six years after Esposito's retirement, and three years after he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Bruins decided to retire number 7 in his honor. Bourque, thus, would be the last Bruin to wear number 7 and was permitted to do so as long as he desired to even after Esposito's retirement ceremony, which was scheduled for December 3 of that year. Bourque, however, came up with his own way to honor the veteran Bruin and did so at the ceremony. As the Bruins were dressing for that night's game, Bourque put on two jerseys with his normal number 7 as the top layer. When the team came out for the retirement ceremony, Bourque skated over to Esposito just before he was about to speak to the Boston crowd. He removed his number 7 jersey and handed it to Esposito, a move that was seen as "surrendering" the number to him. In doing this, Bourque also revealed his new number to the crowd, as the jersey he had been wearing underneath his number 7 bore the number 77 he would wear for the remainder of his career. ==Personal life and retirement== Bourque married his high school sweetheart Christiane in 1982, the couple live in Massachusetts, and have two sons, Christopher and Ryan and a daughter, Melissa. Christopher and Ryan both became professional hockey players. Bourque's younger brother Richard was also a hockey player and was drafted by the Bruins in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft in the tenth round, but never played professional hockey. Bourque was named a Bruins team consultant on November 3, 2005. While Bourque's children were attending Cushing Academy he served as an assistant coach for the hockey team from 2002 to 2007. Bourque is the co-owner of an Italian restaurant called Tresca located in Boston's North End. The restaurant was opened in 2005; he owns it alongside executive chef Rich Ansara. In 2016 lower portion of the restaurant was converted into a bar arena and was renamed Cafe 77 in reference to Bourque's jersey number. Bourque wanted to open the restaurant due to his love for the North End because of the Italian food, culture and heritage that he developed during his playing days in Boston. Bourque was involved with charitable events throughout most of his career and helped create contributions totaling more than $20 million to over 1,000 different charities. In 2017 he and his wife decided then decided to start their own charity called the Bourque Family Foundation. The foundation supports charitable events around the Boston and New England area from establishing after school programs to famine relief efforts. The charity is a family oriented Bourque stated "With the Bourque Family Foundation, my wife and I wanted to create something where we could get the kids — and grandkids — involved." The foundation holds multiple annual events including the 7.7K road race in the spring, Bourques celebrity Golf tournament in summer and the Captain's Ball in honor of Pete Frates which takes place in September and the proceeds of the event go directly to ALS research. Since its inception the charity has donated over $1.5 million to over 50 different charities. In his spare time Bourque also makes numerous one-off appearances at other charity events / galas to raise funds for multiple organizations. He is also a member of the Boston Bruins alumni association and has occasionally completed charity benefit games. He is also an avid golfer and is a member of the Salem Country Club, in 2017 Bourque served as the Honorary Chairman of U.S. Senior Open Golf Championship in Peabody Massachusetts. In March 2023 it was announced Bourque would be the head coach of Bostons 3ICE team and his two sons would be playing for the team as well. Bourque coached the team to the playoffs with a 4–2 record but lost in the semifinals. Bourque returned as the coach for the 2025 season but missed the playoffs going 1–3. In 2025 he launched Bourque's Brew, a lager developed in partnership with Jack's Abby Craft Lagers and Legal Sea Foods, with a portion of every can sold benefiting Bourque's charity. ==Awards and achievements== Bourque's exceptional talent as a player has led him to become one of the most honored players in hockey history. During his career, he was selected to thirteen NHL First Team (the most in history) and six Second Team All-Star squads, second in total in league history only to Gordie Howe and most amongst defencemen. He won the Norris Trophy as the top defenceman in the league five times, fourth all-time after Bobby Orr, Doug Harvey and Nicklas Lidström. Among his numerous other records and honors are the following: ===Career=== 11th all-time (4th among defencemen) in career games played with 1,612. 4th all-time in career assists with 1,169; a record for defencemen. 11th all-time in career points scored (1,579). 1st in career points scored by a defenceman (1,579). 1st in career goals scored by a defenceman (410). Career leader in shots on goal by a defenceman (6,206). Is third in career plus-minus with 528, behind Larry Robinson and Orr. Bruins' all-time career leader in games played (1,518), assists (1,111) and points (1,506), also ranking fourth in goals and first in assists with a single team (any position). 3rd all-time in playoff assists and 10th all-time in playoff points. In 1998, three years before the end of his career, he was ranked number 14 on The Hockey News list of the one hundred greatest hockey players of all time. He was the highest-ranking player who had not yet won a Stanley Cup, the next highest being No. 38-ranked Marcel Dionne. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. Named One of the Top 100 Best Bruins Players of all Time. Named to the Boston Bruins All-Centennial Team. ===NHL records=== Holds the NHL record for most shots on goal in one game with 19 (Mar. 21, 1991) ===Trophies and leaders=== Won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1980 Won the Norris Trophy in 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1994 Won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 1992 Received the Lester Patrick Trophy in 2003 Stanley Cup champion in 2001 Led the NHL in shots in 1984, 1987 and 1995 ===NHL All-Star teams=== NHL first team All-Star in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, and 2001. Second Team All-Star in 1981, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1995 and 1999. ===NHL All-Star Game=== Named to play in the All-Star Game for the 19th consecutive season, 2001; Bourque also appeared in the All-Star Game in every season that it was held during his career (there was no game in 1987 or 1995). Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game in 1996. Won the NHL All-star Game Shooting Accuracy Competition in 1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. ==Career statistics== ===Regular season and playoffs=== ===International=== ==See also== List of NHL statistical leaders Notable families in the NHL List of NHL career assists leaders List of NHL players with 1,000 games played ==References== ==External links==

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