The Golden Lounge

[Jim Bishop]

'Boom Boom' tribute comes a little too late

Wayne Scanlan, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Saturday, March 11, 2006

It was already in the wrong building.

Now, it's too late for Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion to be there in person when his No. 5 finally gets retired by the Montreal Canadiens.

Though Geoffrion, 75, vowed this week he'd summon the strength to fly in from Atlanta for the honour, news came Saturday that he'd died of stomach cancer.

Friday, the Canadiens announced that Geoffrion's condition had worsened and he would not be able to attend Saturday night's ceremony at the Bell Centre, before the game between the Canadiens and New York Rangers.

Saturday night happens to be the 10th anniversary of the final game at the Montreal Forum, which was Geoffrion's hockey home from 1950 to '64. It's a crime Boom Boom didn't have his number retired before the Forum was closed in 1996, or at least while he had his health.

"Aw, frig," longtime NHL forward and Geoffrion pal Tim Ecclestone said from Atlanta yesterday when he learned that Geoffrion was not well enough to go to Montreal.

"I just talked to him the other day," Ecclestone said. "His voice sounded a bit weak by the end of the conversation, but he said he was taking a whole bunch of his family up there on a private jet."

Ecclestone was coached by Geoffrion on the 1974-75 Atlanta Flames, and both men established themselves in the Atlanta business and sports community.

"He should have had his number retired 20 years ago," Ecclestone said. "I told his daughter, Linda, I can't figure out why it wasn't done before now. It's almost like they wait for the guy to pass away."

Dickie Moore was a teammate of Geoffrion on the Canadiens from 1951 to '63. Coincidentally, Moore and fellow Habs legend Doug Harvey were with the St. Louis Blues (Harvey spent most of the season in the minors) in 1967, when Ecclestone was an NHL rookie with St. Louis.

Moore agrees that Geoffrion's honour is long overdue.

"He was so good, I couldn't believe he didn't have his sweater retired a long time ago," Moore told Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette. "I would have given mine up for him because he deserved it so much."

Moore and Yvan Cournoyer, who both wore No. 12, had their sweater number jointly retired last November.

Geoffrion's number was in circulation so long that nine Montreal players used No. 5 after Boomer left Montreal in '64.

Defenceman Guy Lapointe wore it with distinction from 1970 to '82.

Like baseball's New York Yankees, the Habs don't have many single digit numbers remaining. Numbers 1, 2, 4, 7, and 9 have been retired to honour Jacques Plante, Harvey, Jean Beliveau, Howie Morenz and Rocket Richard.

Gone, too, are 10 (Guy Lafleur), 12 (Moore-Cournoyer) and 16 (Henri Richard).

Geoffrion's 5 is not out of place among those greats.

He scored 393 career goals, all but 22 of them with Montreal. When he retired in 1968, Geoffrion stood fifth all-time among goal scorers.

In 1960-61, his finest overall season, Boom Boom became the second player in NHL history, after Richard, to score 50 goals in a season. His 95 points that season led him to a sweep of the Hart and Art Ross Trophies as the league's most valuable player and scoring champ.