Blueshirts Briefs: The Boogeyman’s toughest fight came outside the rink
A brief Rangers career
Boogaard didn’t make a good first impression with the Rangers. In September 2010, he arrived at training camp out of shape at around 300 pounds and reportedly skipped sessions at the team’s practice rink, where several veteran Rangers had been prepping for camp. Once camp began, Blueshirts’ brass was angered by how poorly conditioned their new acquisition was.
About the only thing Boogaard did right upon joining the Rangers was choosing uniform No. 94, but even that came with a catch. Boogaard was aware the number represented the year the Blueshirts last won the Stanley Cup. However, he chose No. 94 only because No. 24 (the number he wore with the Wild in homage to his idol, Probert) was already taken by captain Ryan Callahan.
Nonetheless, Rangers’ head coach John Tortorella told reporters he expected Boogaard to be more than a fighter, a power forward who could play extended minutes. If Tortorella truly believed that, it sure wasn’t reflected in the Boogeyman’s ice time.
In his first regular-season game, he had seven shifts totaling 6:03 of ice time in a 6-3 win over the Sabres in Buffalo. Two days later, he played just 1:34 in a 6-4 loss to the Islanders on Long Island. He had four shifts — three of them in the first period, his last in the middle period for all of 22 seconds.
The Rangers’ third game was on October 15 at Madison Square Garden against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs won, 4-3, in overtime but more importantly knocked Blueshirts’ star Marian Gaborik out of the match with a separated shoulder. They also ran and knocked down goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
Boogaard played eight shifts in that match for a grand total of 5:29. He had no PIMs but did manage an assist, the 13th of his career. Six days later, Boogaard’s first fight for the Blueshirts came in a rematch versus the Leafs in Toronto. The bout was against former Ranger Colton Orr (who once knocked out Philadelphia Flyers’ pugilist Todd Fedoruk at the Garden).
According to an excerpt from the book Boy on Ice, Boogaard’s father, Len, was in attendance and afterward said that he noticed something was wrong with his son. Len said Derek fought with “uncustomary nonchalance” and “there was a reluctance to engage, and then a fight without fury.” Later it was revealed that one of Orr’s punches dislodge a tooth-bridge in Derek’s mouth.
Considering Orr sent Fedoruk out on a stretcher during their Garden bout, perhaps Boogaard got off easy in this one. Incidentally, Boogaard also got the best of Fedoruk during a match between the Wild and Anaheim Ducks in 2006. With one punch, the Boogeyman shattered Fedoruk’s cheekbone.
Two nights after the match in Toronto, Boogaard fought Boston Bruins’ tough guy Shawn Thornton, over whom he had an advantage of five inches and close to 50 pounds. Boogaard suffered a cut on his right index finger during the bout, one that became infected. Between the pain from the cut and an “exposed nerve” sustained in the Orr fight, Rangers’ dentist Joseph Esposito prescribed 20 hydrocodone pills.
Despite the pain, Boogaard fought Jody Shelley in Philadelphia on November 4. Shelley skated with the Rangers in 2009-10 but lost his spot when the team signed the Boogeyman. Once again, Boogaard beat Shelley, having connected with a couple of shots to the back of the Flyers’ enforcer’s head. Boogey played 10 shifts, the most in one game as a Blueshirt, totaling 6:16 of ice time.
The most ice time Boogaard saw in a game with the Rangers was on November 22 in a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Garden, notching 7:15 on eight shifts.
Boogaard’s only goal for the Rangers came on November 9 in a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals at the Garden. His slapper from atop the faceoff circle beat goalie Michal Neuvirth just over three minutes into the middle period, giving New York a 3-2 lead.
Boogaard’s goal was the third of his career and first in 234 matches. The goal was met with thunderous approval from the Garden’s faithful, who grew to like him for his contributions to the Garden of Dreams and his creation of “Boogaard’s Booguardians”, honoring military members and their families at home games. Unfortunately, none of that translated into more ice time under Tortorella.