Lefko on NHL: The Boogeyman’s journey

New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard was an imposing hockey player, and how he came to be known as the Boogeyman — which surely has to rank as one of the greatest nicknames in all of sports — is a fascinating story in itself.

Todd Ripplinger, the Regina Pats’ director of scouting, gave Boogaard the moniker 13 years ago while watching him play in the team’s rookie mini camp.

“We were sitting in the stands in a Regina rink and it just came to mind — Boogaard, (the) Boogeyman and it stuck,” Ripplinger told sportsnet.ca. “He was the Boogeyman out there, scaring the heck out of everybody, skating around trying to challenge everybody to fight and guys were running away from him.

“We gave him that nickname in training camp and everybody called him Boogeyman around the Western Hockey League. I think he enjoyed (the nickname). He had a twinkle in his eye and an evil little smirk on his face. If you called him that he’d kind of grin a little bit, knowing there’s a reason why he’s known as Boogeyman.”

Some 10 years later, in a national TV interview during which he was asked about the origin of the nickname, Boogaard indicated Ripplinger coined it. He called him later that day to tell him to watch the show.

“For some reason Derek remembered who first called him that, and that’s just Derek: he was a kind guy, he remembered little things like that and that’s what made him special.”

In the wake of Boogaard’s sudden passing last Friday at age 28, Ripplinger has been receiving numerous calls about giving him the nickname.

Ripplinger recalled the first time he saw Boogaard play. He and Pats general manager Brent Parker were watching the burly winger in a bantam game in Melford, Saskatchewan.

“He was out of control that night, the referees couldn’t handle him, he was trying to get at the other team’s bench and all of a sudden an RCMP officer walked on the ice and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him off the ice,” Ripplinger said, still finding the incident somewhat incredulous

Ripplinger and Parker figured someone in the rink had called the cops on Boogaard. What they learned was that the RCMP officer happened to be Boogaard’s father, Len, a corporal, who was in the stands that night dressed in his uniform.

Boogaard made enough of an impression on Ripplinger and Parker that later that night they jumped at the chance to put him on their exclusive 50-player protected list for players between the ages of 14 and 20. They saw him as a big 15-year-old kid, standing about 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-2, who had a good stride and arms that practically hung down past his knees. They were sure he hadn’t stopped growing. He shot up to 6-foot-7 and weighed 270 pounds.

“We thought this guy had the potential of being a player if he figures out how to play the game,” Ripplinger said. “Sure as heck he played almost 300 games in the NHL. We always thought he’d be a better pro than a junior hockey player. There’s more men in the NHL and he was just too big and strong for the Western Hockey League, and he didn’t have very many takers being 6-foot-7, 270 pounds. There weren’t too many guys that wanted to tussle with him, and I don’t blame them.”

Boogaard played only five games for the Pats and was then traded to the Prince George Cougars in a straight one-for-one deal that sent Jonathan Parker, whom Regina coveted. He played almost two full seasons with Prince George and then finished off his junior career with the Medicine Hat Tigers.

“I know he wasn’t here in Regina for a long time, but he kept coming back in the off-seasons and I’d always run into him at restaurants or charity events and functions and it was almost like I was his best friend and I wasn’t,” Ripplinger recalled. “I saw him about three or four times in the summer, but he always treated me like I was a good friend of his. He was very appreciative that we got him started in the Western Hockey League. He thought he wasn’t good enough ever to play. We gave him his first start and I guess he cherished us for that.”

Ripplinger reasoned that Boogaard figured he had to fight to make it to the NHL. Boogaard had only three goals and 18 assists in 174 regular-season games, during which he accumulated 670 penalty minutes. The website dropyourgloves.com lists him as having fought 66 times in junior.

The Minnesota Wild drafted Boogaard in the seventh round, 202nd overall, in 2001.

He began in the East Coast Hockey League in the second half of the 2002-2003 season with the Louisiana IceGators and racked up 240 minutes in only 33 games and fought 13 times. He then moved up to the American League with the Houston Aeros and totaled 53 fights in 109 games over two seasons.

“I think he graduated from the East Coast very quick and when I heard he was in the American Hockey League I was actually shocked that he made the jump that fast,” Ripplinger said. “He was determined. He wanted to fight, that’s what he wanted to do. He was a smart kid, he knew what he wanted do and knew to play in the NHL that’s what he needed to do.”

Ripplinger was on a bus in Grand Forks, North Dakota for his son’s hockey tournament when he was phoned by the team’s president with the news Boogaard had died.

“I was totally shocked. I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. He was a good man and he’s going to be missed by lots.”