I thought enough of Andre that as a kid I drew his picture. Maybe not a great picture, but a picture...
Great drawing Howie Hodge.
He was a pretty underrated player back then, pretty small, a slick playmaker and a very good skater.
Off the ice Boudrias was an interesting guy that I enjoyed listening to. He told me several great stories from the old days, some would definitely be R-rated today. The boys back then knew how to have fun.
The media scrutiny and PC hystery was not as bad as today.
I remember when I first met him, we had dinner together with Ken Schinkel (another ex-NHL’er), and I asked him about Bill Masterton’s death, being aware that he was his teammate at the time.
Boudrias said that it was the worst day of his life as a professional player.
He vividly remembered everything from that situation and said that he could still hear the thud of Masterton’s head hitting the ice. The arena went dead silent. When he helped to wheel Masterton off the ice on a stretcher, he bent over to look at Masterton's face. Boudrias told me that he immediately could tell it was really, really bad. Ironically enough Boudrias was one of few players in the league at the time who wore a helmet.
After that first dinner we headed out for a few drinks, and Schinkel told us some hilarious stories about Eddie Shore when he was in Springfield. We laughed so hard that we all were in tears, including Boudrias. That’s the way I’ll remember him, full of life and laughter. R.I.P.
