Bourque's Baltimore Beginnings

By: John Sparenberg

Nothing came easy for former Baltimore Skipjack Phil Bourque on his odyssey to the NHL on a route that traveled directly through Charm City, and eventually to the show, where he skated in nearly 500 regular seasons contests with various clubs and collected a couple of Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Always a free spirit and never afraid to make his own way or do things in a unique manner, both on and off the ice, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts native was fortunate to have a pair of gentlemen with deep Baltimore ties to help him transition into an NHL'er. 

The dream of hockey-playing youngsters who grow up in the Boston area take the next step in their careers by staying in the area and playing college hockey at either Boston College or Boston University and then play with the Bruins, but the adventurous Bourque opted for his own plan B and went to Canada to play for the Kingston Canadians, who were led by their bench boss, Jim Morrison. 

"He was a little bit like a father figure," said Bourque of Morrison, a former Bruin, and also a former AHL Baltimore Clipper, who both skated for and coached the team before venturing back to his native land to coach in the Canadian junior hockey ranks. "That was also the first time I had left home. After graduating high school my dad really wanted me to play college hockey but you remember back in 1980, which was the year I graduated, there weren’t many high school kids going pro and then to the NHL, and that’s where I wanted to get as quick as possible." 

"Through a mutual family friend, I got to meet (former Clipper) Jean Ratelle who was then playing for the Bruins and was good friends with Jim. Jean was the one who got me the tryout with Kingston, and I came in as a defenseman. Jim, having played defense himself, helped me learn the position and he helped me a lot off the ice as well, helping me go from a boy to a man." 

Counted amongst Bourque's friends with the Canadians was fellow backliner Mike Stothers, a give no quarter ask no quarter feisty competitor, whose face would turn noticeably red when he was incensed. But that friendship, at least on the ice, ceased when they both began to play for pay, as they became bitter foes and battled many times over the years. First, when Stothers played with the Philadelphia Flyers' then AHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners, and later when he played with the Hershey Bears, who dotted the Jacks' schedule often due to the clubs being located only 90 miles apart. 

"Stuts was a great guy and a great teammate, fun-loving and like to have fun off the ice," said Bourque, who scored his first AHL goal against Stothers and his Maine mates on January 21, 1983, at the Baltimore Civic Center at the expense of netminder Gil Hudon. "However, on the ice, he had a snarly mean streak to him. Hockey circles, they’re pretty small and pretty tight, right? Every once in a while I bump into Mike and he’s one of those guys where 20 or 30 years later when you bump into him it’s like you saw him a month ago." 

Unlike Stothers, who was a first-round pick of the Flyers in 1980 in the NHL Entry Draft, and thus had a degree of certainty in his career, the same could not be said of Bourque, who despite having representation present still found himself undrafted and a free agent after the completion of the 1982 draft held on June 11, 1982, three days after his 20th birthday. in Montreal, where the hometown Habs selected Alain Heroux, the brother of former Skipjack Yves, with their first selection. Facing an uncertain future, Bourque was at a career crossroads with few options and only two suitors interested in his services. 

"I had an agent and he was at the draft that year in Montreal. I was actually working at a gas station at that time. If you remember, back then gas stations actually had people that pumped the gas for you, and that’s what I was doing in the summer of 1982 trying to make a little extra money on the side. My agent had my number and was in contact with me during the draft, but I didn’t get drafted and I didn’t have a backup plan because once you go play junior hockey you burn your amateur eligibility, so I couldn't go back and play college hockey on a scholarship. So, I was all in on the pro hockey part. I had my fingers crossed, but only got two phone calls. One was from the head scout of my hometown Bruins and the other one was from the Penguins." 

After mulling over the offers, Bourque chose to have the Penguins acquire his services, a decision that he made based on his professional career potential, but also on a personal level, giving him space away from his verbally and physically abusive father. 

"The easy decision would have been to accept the Bruins’ training camp invite and stay at home, but I needed to get out of town and away from my dad and spread my wings. The Penguins were not very good at that time in the early ’80s and the Bruins were, so I thought my best chance was with the Penguins, so I accepted their invitation to camp, borrowed my mom's car, loaded my gear in there, and off I went to the tryout with the Pittsburgh Penguins." 

However, the path both get to the NHL, and stay up on top after getting there was filled with trials and tribulations both at the rink and away from the playing surface. 

Despite failing to make the Pittsburgh squad in his first training camp, Bourque succeeded in earning a contract with the club, and the rookie rearguard was dispatched to the Skipjacks to begin cutting his teeth as a pro. In his first year in the pro ranks under the tutelage of head coach Lou Angotti, a former Penguin during his playing days, Bourque notched that single goal against the Mariners in addition to garnering 15 helpers and accumulating 93 penalty minutes. 

He followed that up with a solid sophomore season with the Jacks under head coach Gene Ubriaco, a former Penguin and Baltimore Clipper (AHL) during his playing days, improving on his offensive numbers while still serving 90-plus PIM's. The improved play earned the man known as "Bubba" among other monikers, five games with the Pens. But while the maturation process under the bright lights of arenas was going smoothly, there was still much work to be in his private life, as Bourque revealed in exposing information that and details of incidents that were tightly kept under wraps when they occurred.

"I had a lot of maturing to do to be quite honest with you," said Bourque in response to how he grew as a person and on-ice performer in Baltimore. "A lot of people don't know this story, but the statute of limitations has expired, so I can talk about it. My first two years in Baltimore I got arrested. It wasn’t like I was going to do to 5-to-10 years for committing a major crime; it was simply the wrong place wrong time with the wrong people. The first year I got charged with assaulting a police officer, and again wrong place wrong time. I was actually the designated driver driving somebody that had too much to drink home, and he wanted to get in a fight with a guy that was an undercover cop, and we both ended up in jail. Next year I'm just about to go into a bar, haven’t even had a drink yet and outside the bar and a guy jumps on my back, we knock people over, and bam, I’m arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct." 

"So, my first two years in Baltimore were humbling, to say the least, but I loved playing there. To play in the minor leagues in a major league city with the Orioles there and at that time the Colts were playing over at Memorial Stadium. The weather was great, and I had a lot of fun there, and probably a little too much fun to be quite honest with you. We used to pack them in," said Bourque, repeating that phrase with his voice gaining momentum as he excitedly recalled the days he donned the Jacks’ jersey. "We had the ring of fire when the lights would go out, man, it was like a Las Vegas show. We had good teams back then, and it was a great way to find your way in pro hockey. The thing for me though is I was not mature enough to handle all of it and I got myself into a little bit of trouble."

Speaking of trouble, one of the most troublesome rinks to play in during Bourque's days in the AHL was the Hershey Bears' home rink at the time, the historic HERSHEYPARK Arena. Due to the Bears' boisterous boosters and the unique steeped seating in the venue, most opposition players fell into two camps. There were the ones who were often thrown off their game due to the unique characteristics and deep history of the building and then were the ones like Bourque, who thrived upon the challenge presented. 

"The atmosphere there was something, and I loved playing there. The bus pulling into the parking lot with all of the amusement park in full view as we pulled around the back and unloaded, oh man", Bourque said, his excitement coming through the phone lines very clearly in recalling the memories. 

Continuing on, Bourque's exuberance faded as he recalled an incident that he experienced at the HPA that while harrowing when it happened, turned into a great story in the end. "I had a bad experience in one of the first games I ever played there. I went to check a guy real hard into the boards in the corner, and he ducked down and I hit my temple on the corner of the boards and I got knocked out cold and when I woke up at the Hershey Medical Center. I stayed overnight at the Medical Center, but the Skipjacks went back to Baltimore after the game."

"We were playing back-to-back games with the Bears that weekend and were playing them in Baltimore the next night. Then, the Skipjacks contacted me at the hospital and said is there any chance you can jump on the Bears’ team bus and get you back to Baltimore? So, after getting knocked out cold and spending the night in Hershey, I had to jump on the bus with the hated Hershey Bears and drive back to Baltimore."

The boys from Baltimore were never able to capture the Calder Cup during the five seasons that Bourque skated in Baltimore, but they came awful close in the 1984-85 season. In the regular season, the club was hovering around the .500 mark just prior to the three-quarter mark before going on a torrid streak, giving notice to the hockey world that the "heat is on" by reeling off a then professional hockey record 16-straight victories, with Bourque pinching down from the blueline late in the third period of the final win of the run in Binghamton, New York to aid on the GWG by his fellow "Bay State" native,  Tom O'Regan. 

Then, in the post-season, the Jacks downed the Rochester Americans in five games before sweeping the Binghamton Whalers in the second round, propelling them into the finals where they would meet the Sherbrooke Canadiens. However, their quest to capture the Calder Cup ended in disappointment in the final round when they ran into the eventual champion Sherbrooke Canadiens, who were backstopped to the title by a relative unknown at the time with only two games of professional experience on resume entering the post-season, Patrick Roy, who eventually went on to a stellar, Hall of Fame career in the NHL that included four Stanley Cups. Many Baltimore fans cried foul play about Roy being allowed to compete in the playoffs that season, saying that he should not have been eligible to play, and even now, 30-plus years later, the mention of Roy's name to those same fans still gets their blood boiling. 

"That season was a blast, and the Penguins were rotten that year as well for a reason, and that reason was that there was a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow named Mario Lemieux. We were loaded down there and had a bunch of guys who probably should have been in the NHL, but that would have made Pittsburgh too good if you know what I mean, wink, wink. The 16-game win streak was a magical run and I think about it all the time. It was so much fun and we were on such a roll, and I will just never forget that. We really came together as a team. We did a lot of stuff the ice too, and you hear that being said about teams that have success. We hung out together and became like a family."

"In the playoffs. Montreal called some guys up from the junior teams, and Patrick Roy was unbelievable. I remember I had a separated shoulder, and I tried to play through it in the finals, but we just kind of ran out of gas. But, we also ran into one hell of a team in the Sherbrooke Canadiens who were loaded as well and deserved to win the title." 

Quite a character himself, Bourque, who competed as hard as anyone when the chips were down, also pointed out that he never forgot that he was also in the entertainment business. One example of Bourque's pushing the entertainment envelope was a December 1990 Penguins' game against the Detroit Red Wings in the Igloo. In that contest, on a breakaway attempt, Bourque, after gaining the offensive zone, turned his stick over, more or less mashing the puck into the ice with the toe of his blade. 

After completing that maneuver, he continued onto the Detroit net where he tried but failed to slide a backhander by the goalie, not with a shot but a push. Asked why he made the attempt, which drew the ire of a few Red Wings and probably a stern talking to from the Pens' old school coach, "Badger" Bob Johnson, he said some of his teammates told him he would never try it in a game, and challenged him to do so. 

The Skipjacks featured a sizable list of colorful personalities that Bourque went to battle with during his days with the group. There was Bennett "The Big Bad" Wolf and Marty McSorley, both of whom were large in stature and never met a fight they didn't like. There was also Gary Rissling, an undersized player who also liked to throw down and was always quick with a quip, although if you've ever heard his soft, nasally voice, you would know that it just doesn't quite fit the ultra-feisty style of play that was his trademark. 

"Gary Rissling was one of the funniest guys I ever played with," said Bourque, before correcting himself and saying Riss was THE funniest he ever played with. "He would bring you to tears in the locker room but on the ice, what a competitor. He was always very fit and into fitness, and a great teammate and a great friend. Another guy you could go 10-to-20 years without seeing and then when you see them you just give them a big hug. For a smaller guy, he was as tough as they come. He would never back down from a fight and he had some pretty good skill for a guy who was considered a bit of a brawler and a funny man. He had a lot of skill and carved out a nice career for himself." 

Greg "Truck" Tebbutt was a larger than life character, personified. Measuring 6′3″ and tipping the scales around the 250-pound range when he was in good shape, Tebbutt often played north of that weight during his often stormy stint as a Skipjack, which featured several off-ice incidents that ultimately culminated in him being released in-season. 

However, when he was in good shape and at the top of his game, he was a dominant force in the AHL, as evidenced by his capturing of the Eddie Shore Trophy as the defenseman of the year in the 1982-83 campaign with the Jacks. In that award-winning season, the burly backliner "tickled the twine" on 28 occasions and lent a helping hand on twice as many tallies by his teammates to finish with 84-points, which for a defenseman, especially one with limited mobility and below-average skating skills, was quite a feat, but those figures become even more impressive when you consider that he also accumulated 140 PIM's in tallying those numbers. 

"You hear so much about unique players playing in the minor leagues, and he was definitely one of them. Here's a guy who literally looked like Paul Bunyan, had a bomb of a shot, and used to smoke cigarettes in the hallway between periods, said Bourque of Tebbutt, who eclipsed the 20-plus goal plateau in five different minor league seasons, and parlayed his award-winning season with the Jacks into a 24-game stint with the Penguins in the subsequent one.