Habs hire McGill grad for AHL post in Hamilton

MONTREAL - Former McGill hockey star Guy Boucher has been appointed head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens. The announcement was made Monday by Bob Gainey, general manager of the Canadiens and Julien Brisebois, GM of the Bulldogs.

Boucher, who was born at Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Que., and raised in Roxboro, Que., turns 38 on Aug. 3. He possesses a master's degree in sports psychology from the Université de Montréal, plus arts (history & environmental biology) and engineering degrees from McGill, where he played four seasons at centre for the Redmen, from 1991 to 1995, recording 71 goals and 183 points in 141 games. A two-time league all-star, he won the Guy Lafleur trophy in 1993, was voted Team MVP in 1994 and served as team captain in 1995. After graduating from McGill, he played pro in France where he led Viry-Chatillon to an Elite League championship in 1995-96.

Boucher, who earned his first coaching stripes for one season under Martin Raymond at McGill, has been involved in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the better part of the past decade, including the last three seasons as head coach at Drummondville, leading the Voltigeurs to the 2008-09 regular season and playoff championships, as well as a berth in the Memorial Cup tournament. He also guided the Voltigeurs to their best season in franchise history (54 wins, 112 points), an improvement of almost 400% over the previous season (14 wins, 33 points). He was awarded the Paul Dumont Trophy as the QMJHL's Personality of the Year in 2008-09.

Prior to his tenure in Drummondville, Boucher was an assistant coach with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (1997-2000) under Jean Pronovost and was with the Rimouski Oceanic (2003-2006), where he served under Donald Dufresne and Doris Labonte, and coached future NHL star Sydney Crosby. He left the QMJHL for two seasons (2000-02), to be at the helm of the Lac St. Louis Lions in the Midget AAA league.

Boucher also enjoyed success at the international level working as an assistant coach with Canada's national under-18 team on three separate occasions, most recently at the 2008 IIHF U-18 world championship where the squad struck gold. He was also behind the bench at the 2007 Ivan Hlinka Memorial summer tournament and the 2006 U-18 world championship. More recently, at the 2009 U-20 world championship, he served as an assistant to Pat Quinn with the Canadian team that won gold at the world junior championships in Ottawa.

He and wife Marsha have three children, son Vincent and twin daughters Mila and Naomi.

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Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University