Boom Boom Geffrion has died.

[Swede]

Geoffrion was credited with inventing the slap shot, and thus earned the nickname "Boom Boom." He was the Hart Trophy winner as the league's MVP for the 1960-61 season when he became the second player to score 50 goals in a season, was the Calder Trophy winner as the top rookie in 1952 and was twice the Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL scoring champion.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/scorecard/hockeynews.asp?articleID=160872

[MrPrax]

1. I could be way off...

chalk it up to drugs if you will...BUT I vaguely remember that Boom Boom was also noted for doing shaver commercials, as well as Miller beer ads back in the 80s...I seem to think that his 'tagline' in the ads was an open invitation to do a cheezy French Canadian accent.

Boom Boom ... Out Go The Lights...on a Great Player.


From Wikipedia:

Geoffrion was born in Montreal, Quebec, and began playing in the NHL in 1951. He earned the nickname "Boom Boom" for his thundering slapshot (which Geoffrion claimed to have 'invented' as a youngster <2>) from sportswriter Charlie Boire of the Montreal Star in the late 1940s while playing junior hockey for the Laval Nationale. He was the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, the first being teammate Rocket Richard. He played right wing on Montreal's front line with superstars Richard and Jean Beliveau, helping the Canadiens to six Stanley Cup championships.

In a testament to the rough-and-tumble style of play of that era, Geoffrion broke his nose six times, and received over 400 stitches. In 1958, a training accident severely injured him and his life was saved by emergency surgery. Despite advice from his doctors to stop playing for a season, Geoffrion was on the ice six weeks later to take part in the Stanley Cup finals.

Geoffrion first retired in 1964, but returned two seasons later to play for the New York Rangers. In 1968 he finally retired as a player and became coach of the Rangers, a position he kept for less than a season due to stomach problems. In 1972 he became the first coach of the Atlanta Flames, and held the position for two and a half seasons, leading them to their first playoff appearance in 1974. He realized a longtime dream of coaching his beloved Canadiens in 1979, but his recurring stomach ailment forced him to step down mid-season.

In the 1970s and into the 1980s, Geoffrion appeared in several television commercials for Miller Lite beer, part of their stable of retired athletes-turned-spokesmen which also included Billy Martin and Bob Uecker.

Wikipedia Entry

[HuffleClaw]

2. "Geoffrion broke his nose six times, and received over 400 stitches."

back when men were MEN and goalies DIDN'T wear masks. he was a legend.

[Bassic]

3. Except he wasn't a goalie.

He's supposedly one of the first players to use the slapshot. Hence the nickname Boom Boom.