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In two playoff games, he had no points and no penalty minutes. In 33 games with Louisiana, Boogaard had a goal and three points, along with a team high 240 PIM. They did not foresee him making it to the NHL, but his work ethic impressed them. His coaches were told to develop him as an enforcer.
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He spent part of the 2002–03 season with Medicine Hat, playing in 27 games, getting a goal and three points, while registering 65 PIM.īoogaard signed a professional contract with the Minnesota Wild, and they placed him with the Louisiana IceGators of the ECHL to finish the 2002–03 season. He was then traded to the Medicine Hat Tigers.īoogaard finished the 2001–02 season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, as he appeared in 46 games with the team, scoring a goal and nine points, while having 178 PIM, third highest on the team. He began the 2001–02 season with the Cougars, appearing in two games, recording no points and 16 PIM. Boogaard agreed, writing: "It was the best feeling I had the last 2 years."Īfter the season, the Minnesota Wild drafted Boogaard in the seventh round (202nd overall) in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. "I don't think I ever saw our rink, or Derek, that happy as the time he scored that goal ", said one of his assistant coaches. In the playoffs, he scored a goal in six games, while accumulating 30 PIM. His team-leading 245 PIM was the eighth highest total in the league. In 61 games, Boogaard scored a goal and nine points. Prince George fans began chanting his name at games, and one poll named him the toughest player in the WHL's Western Conference. He avenged losses from previous seasons, including the one in which he had been injured. He finally found a host family he could get along with, and began winning his fights on the ice. He was expected to lose weight due to the liquid diet forced on him by having his jaw wired shut, but he actually gained it when he found ways to get food through gaps in the wiring.Īfter considering quitting hockey again during training camp, Boogaard returned to the Cougars for a second season in the 2000–01 season. Late in the season, Boogaard suffered a broken jaw in a game against the Tri-City Americans, and was sent home to Regina to heal. I struggled with everything it seemed." He had difficulty following rules and failed classes at school. He later wrote, "It was a very long year for me.
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He lost his first fight, against Eric Godard, a future NHL enforcer with the New York Islanders. Early in his rookie season, he was traded to the Prince George Cougars after losing a fight in a game against the Kelowna Rockets.ĭuring Boogaard's first season he suited up for 20 games, registering no points and had the third-highest penalty minutes total on the team with 149. He played in five games with the team, earning no points and 17 PIM. The Pats called him back to training camp, and he got into 12 fights during the four scrimmages.
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By the next season, he had reached his full adult height of 6 feet 7 inches (200 cm). That summer, Boogaard got into a bar fight with some friends one night, during which, he wrote later, they beat up seven men around the age of 30. He quit after the game and, his mother recalled, he cried all the way home when she came to pick him up. At one point, he begged the coach to let him play during a tournament in Calgary, but was unsuccessful. The season was not a happy one for Boogaard. He played there for most of the 1998–99 season, scoring two goals and five points in 35 games, with 166 penalty minutes (PIM). His career in Regina did not get off to a good start when he backed out of his first fight in a game against the Moose Jaw Warriors.Īs a result, he was reassigned to the lower-division Regina Pats of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Boogaard broke the other player's nose with his first punch.īoogaard's parents divorced, but they both moved to Regina to be close to their son. In his first scrimmage with the Caps, he was challenged by another large player on the team. They were impressed by Boogaard's boldness and offered him the chance to play junior hockey with the team, a first stop toward reaching the NHL.īy the time he began his junior hockey career, Boogaard had realized that if he wanted to make it to the NHL, he would only be able to do so as an enforcer, since fighting was his strongest skill. Later they were approached by scouts from the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League. After changing out of his uniform, he went to sit next to his father in the stands. "It was something I hadn't seen before."īoogaard was ejected from the game. "He had gone ballistic," said his father, who was in attendance. One night, while playing for the Melfort Mustangs, an unspecified incident led Boogaard to jump into the opposing bench and attempt to fight with opposing players, whose team was leading by a wide margin.