The all-time small league hockey is honored in the same Muskegon building where he played

MUSKEGON Robin Bouchard set a modern, small league professional hockey record of 687 goals in 16 years, 13 of which have been spent in Muskegon.

Terry Ficorell had a bird’s eye view of about 600 of these lengths, he estimates. The only fit is that former, longtime Muskegon hockey broadcaster Bouchard is respected in the building where he worked magic and his seat number retired.

Bouchard will be the protagonist of the 34th Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame ceremony and celebration tonight at the Mercy Health Arena, formerly known as the LC Walker Arena. FICORA intends to participate.

I have chills just when I think about it. Its a great honor, Bouchard said. I played here for many years and we had good success, but it was teamwork so that I could get the honor of that individual, that great honor.

With Bouchard, Matt Brink (wrestling / football), Cheryl Day (basketball) and Johnny Mitchell (athletics) will take part in Hall of Fame. Jim Rudicil, CEO of the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex, is the recipient of the Gene Young Award for Prestigious Service. The winners of the 2021 Scholar-Athlete Award are Mona Shores Brady Rose and Kent City’s Kenzie Bowers.

The Hall of Fame ceremony was canceled last year due to a coronavirus pandemic. 2020 Researcher Award winners Muskegons Cameron Martinez and Grand Havens Kathryn Ackerman were invited to the ceremony tonight. The Hall of Fame ceremony had previously been held at the Muskegon Country Club, but it moved to the Mercy Health Arena this year.

Tickets for the event, which begins at 6 p.m., are available to the public for $ 30 and can be purchased MASHF website. Participants will be offered appetizers in buffet style and adult drinks can be purchased.

Bouchard is expected to have a large number of supporters in the arena today. It is no different from his days as a prolific scorer in the same place.

He was certainly the most interesting player we had at the time, said Ficorelli, who was the voice of Muskegon Fury and Lumberjacks from 1995-2010. The fans definitely worshiped him. He was one of those players that if he played against you, you would despise him. But if he played on your team, you definitely loved him.

He was a colorful player. He was the kind of player you pay to watch the game. He was very colorful, he was great, he was animated and he could be a real spark plug on the ice in different ways not only because of his offensive abilities but also because he wasn’t afraid to participate as the games became more physical, more of a ruffia variety.

Bouchard arrived in Muskegon around Thanksgiving in 1996 while trading with Flint Generals. Jonqueiere, a native of Quebec, played all or part of the 13 seasons in Muskegon. He played for Italy in the 2006-07 season, and he left to play for Texas two more times.

Bouchard, who played right-handed 5-foot-10, 190-pounds, also holds a professional puck record with his goal in 17 consecutive matches in 2009-10. It happened in his final season when he scored a staggering 60 goals at the age of 36.

Bouchard and wife Lisa, who is a native of Flint, enjoyed Muskegon so much that they made it their home. They have two adult children, Ryan, 21, and Emily, 18.

Bouchard, 47, is working as a new car manager at Betten Baker Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac in Muskegon.

It’s a lot like in my hometown: A small town, Bouchard said of Muskegon. I’ve never grown up in traffic or anything like that, and then people are down to earth. They are not the people of a big city. We made a lot of friends here right away, and this has always been our home.

As good a scorer as Bouchard was, his main goal was to win. When Bouchard set them on fire, Fury won four Colonial Cup titles (1999, 2002, 2004, 2005).

Bouchard loves winning whether he plays or coaches hockey, plays golf, or sells cars, but he despises even more. He poured every ounce of energy for the best.

I was nuts about the game. I remember my wife saying: You and Todd (Robinson) play the game and then you come home, he goes to his house and you on the phone until three in the morning you do everything, Bouchard recalled. And I like, yeah, so we did. He wants to, isn’t he tired of talking about it?

No, and when I think back, probably because we won because we hated losing and winning the win at any cost. We were nuts and it brought us success. I think you have to have nuts to a certain point. You have to be obsessed with winning to win. If you haven’t, you’re going the easiest way. Its just the nature.

Bouchard is remembered for several nicknames given to him by Ficorelli, including Rockin Robin, Gunsling King, and Bouch Almighty, a play by Bruce Almighty in Jim Carrey. Bouchard is also remembered for his Bouchardian Bazooka Blast, one of Ficorell’s favorites in his manuscript.

One of Bouchards ’greatest memories of playing hockey in Muskegon came from winning the 6th match of the Colonial Cup in Elmira in 2002, when Robinson scored a goal in extra time. The night before, Bouchard had the OT winner put his team ahead in a series of three games to two, then Fury made a long bus ride from New York overnight.

When Robinson scored a goal, it blew up a roof from an arena in downtown Muskegon.

Once you’re upstairs, up in the Walker Arena gondola (press the box), you’re at the top of the building. You’re on the roof. And when Robinson scored the goal to win the Colonial Cup, you can feel the building vibrating from where we were upstairs, Ficorelli recalled, comparing it to a sound barrier. There were over 5,000 fans, all dressed in white. It was fine white and the roar of the crowd was something.

Said Bouchard: It’s probably one of the coolest things about winning here in Muskegon. The place was full. I remember racks; I mean, you couldn’t sit anywhere. People were in Frauenthal and they heard the goal when we found the goal. They said they heard the place shake, it was so loud.

Bouchard will return tonight to the same place where he will be confirmed as a sports legend in the Muskegon area.

He earned his place in history not only with his victory and statistics, but also with the physical tax on his body: seven or eight teeth were knocked out, three shoulder surgeries, and other various injuries to both knees, ankles, and hands. He underwent five surgeries after retirement.

Bouchard left everything on ice. He fell in love with the game at a young age in the Canadian countryside, skating down the street and in the corner and shooting puck in the basement. He later fell in love with Muskegon, which became his home.

On June 1, her daughter graduated from Reeths-Puffer High School in an outdoor event at Rocket Stadium. Normally, Reeths-Puffer holds her graduation indoors at a facility formerly known as the Walker Arena, but a coronavirus pandemic forced the event to be postponed. It was a bit of a bum for Emily Bouchard.

He said it would have meant even more graduation to him, but that’s what it is, Robin Bouchard said. I couldn’t believe he was thinking that. He was like, Well, I grew up there, Dad.

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