Phillipe Boucher Announces Retirement

Even though he only played in Dallas a few seasons, he'll always be a Star to me.

TSN is reporting that Phillipe Boucher has announced his retirement today. Although Boo was only with the Stars for a few short seasons, I really enjoyed watching him the years he was in Dallas.

I saw two very memorable Boucher moments in person, and one of them was great while the other was actually pretty terrifying.

I saw him score his only career hat trick (I think this was his only one, but let me know if I’m wrong!) against the L.A. Kings on one of my family’s “day after Thanksgiving” hockey holidays. This was in the 2006-07 season where Boucher set a personal career record in goals and a Dallas Stars team record in goals. He was also on the starting lineup for the 2007 All-Star game that was played in Dallas. He did this all while he had to deal with tremendous personal problems off the ice.

In the 2003-04 season, we also saw Boucher take a slapshot to the eye in a game against New Jersey. Ironically, this was also on the day after Thanksgiving. Boo certainly was the man of the hour for most of those games. Seeing a player get seriously injured on the ice is something that never leaves your mind, even though no one ever wants to experience it. Luckily, Boo was able to recover from that and came back wearing a visor full-time (his wife made him).

Boo had a wicked slapshot from the point and a huge heart that showed in every shift he was on the ice. His problem was that he often had trouble staying healthy, and as a result, he lost several seasons due to long-term injuries that kept him out of the regular season and the playoffs.

Boucher retires as a Stanley Cup Champion, and I am happy for him (even if it was with the Pens). He definitely gets a Two Sign Girl Salute! Hopefully he will retire back to Dallas, and maybe we will see him around the Stars someday.

Amy