Laurie Boschman

Laurie Boschman
Born	June 4, 1960 (1960-06-04) Major, SK, CAN
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Left
Played for	Toronto Maple Leafs Edmonton Oilers Winnipeg Jets New Jersey Devils Ottawa Senators
NHL Draft	9th overall, 1979 Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career	1979–1995

Laurie Joseph Boschman (born June 4, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey centre who played in the NHL for 14 seasons for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senators, a team in which he was captain of in his final NHL season.

He currently lives in Stittsville, Ontario, (a part of Ottawa) with his three sons, Brent, Mark and Jeff. His wife, Nancy, died early in 2006.

Playing career

Boschman started his career off with two stellar seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, where he played on a line with future NHLer's Brian Propp and Ray Allison. Those two seasons with Brandon helped him to get drafted 9th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, considered by many hockey experts to be the most productive NHL draft of all-time.

Boschman's time in Toronto was not a happy time, as he was publicly ridiculed multiple times and threatened to be sent down to the minors by Leaf's owner Harold Ballard. Ballard also did not like that Boschman became a born-again Christian, saying he became soft as a result. Boschman was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on March 9, 1982 for Walt Poddubny and Phil Drouillard. He only lasted one year in Edmonton before being traded again, this time to the team that Boschman would define his career with, the Winnipeg Jets.

In his first full season with Winnipeg, he finally lived up to the billing of a first round draft pick by scoring 74 points in 61 games, as well as garnering 234 penalty minutes. Boschman became part of an impressive nucleus in Winnipeg that included stars Dale Hawerchuk, Thomas Steen, David Ellett, Doug Smail, Paul MacLean, and Randy Carlyle. The team's balanced attack was proven during the 1984–85 season when they tied a record with 6 players (including Boschman) scoring at least 30 goals in the regular season. However, even though with the all-star cast, they had to play in the same division as the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers who were two of the best teams in the league at the time, and as a result the team rarely made it past the first round of the playoffs.

The team was broken apart after years of playoff failure, and Boschman was traded to the New Jersey Devils in September, 1990. In his last season with the Jets, he earned an 8-game suspension for high-sticking Tomas Sandstrom in retaliation. He played a few seasons in New Jersey, before being claimed in the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft by the Ottawa Senators. He was the team's first captain during the team's dreadful first season. Boschman retired after that 1992–93 season when he was bought out by the Senators, although he returned to hockey for a brief period in 1994 when he played for the Fife Flyers in the United Kingdom.

Boschman is one of only sixteen players in NHL history to have recorded 500+ points and 2,000+PIM in their career.

Boschman is now part of Hockey Ministries International, a ministry that combines ice hockey with Christianity.

Awards

• Named to the WHL All-Star Team (1979)
• Named to the Memorial Cup All-Star Team (1979).
• Won Molson Cup (Three-Stars Leader) for the Winnipeg Jets (1983–84).

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1976–77	Brandon Wheat Kings	WCHL		3	0	1	1	0		12	1	1	2	17
1977–78	Brandon Wheat Kings	WCHL		72	42	57	99	227		6	2	5	7	45
1978–79	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL		65	66	83	149	215		22	11	23	34	56
1979–80	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		80	16	32	48	78		3	1	1	2	18
1980–81	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		53	14	19	33	178		3	0	0	0	7
1980–81	New Brunswick Hawks	AHL		4	4	1	5	47		—	—	—	—	—
1981–82	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		54	9	19	28	150		—	—	—	—	—
1981–82	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		11	2	3	5	37		3	0	1	1	4
1982–83	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		62	8	12	20	183		—	—	—	—	—
1982–83	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		12	3	5	8	36		3	0	1	1	12
1983–84	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		61	28	46	74	234		3	0	1	1	5
1984–85	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		80	32	44	76	180		8	2	1	3	21
1985–86	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		77	27	42	69	241		3	0	1	1	6
1986–87	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		80	17	24	41	152		10	2	3	5	32
1987–88	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		80	25	23	48	229		5	1	3	4	9
1988–89	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		70	10	26	36	163		—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		66	10	17	27	103		2	0	0	0	2
1990–91	New Jersey Devils	NHL		78	11	9	20	79		7	1	1	2	16
1991–92	New Jersey Devils	NHL		75	8	20	28	121		7	1	0	1	8
1992–93	Ottawa Senators	NHL		70	9	7	16	101		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	Fife Flyers	BNL		7	9	9	18	6		6	5	8	13	12
	NHL totals			1009	229	348	577	2265		57	8	13	21	140

See also

• Captain (ice hockey)
• List of NHL players with 1000 games played
• List of NHL players with 2000 career penalty minutes

External links

• Laurie Boschman's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Hockey Draft Central
• Christian Hockey Players

Preceded by Trevor Johansen	Toronto Maple Leafs first round draft pick 1979	Succeeded by Jim Benning
Preceded by Position created	Ottawa Senators captain 1992–93	Succeeded by Brad Shaw Mark Lamb