The Macho King
Back* to Back** World Champion
- Jun 22, 2011
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I found mention of him wanting to eliminate the red line in 1949.I found a mention of Frank Boucher advocating for eliminating the red line in 1951. Along with Art Ross, one of the original hockey innovators.
Montreal Gazette, April 13, 1951
The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search
Art Ross is the man who suggests that the red line be removed from centre ice and that a team be allowed to pass a puck right up to the other team’s blue line. He also wants to make it compulsory that the puck be carried over the blue line and not shot in, which he thinks would eliminate the ganging in the end zones. Frank Boucher may be the only hockey executive who endorses the idea.
“It’s the ganging in the end zones that makes the game deteriorate into shinny,” he said. “Anything that will eliminate it is an improvement.”
But Frank Selke, Jack Adams and Conn Smythe are all for maintaining the status quo.
“There isn’t anything with the present rules of hockey as long as they are enforced,” says Frank Selke.
The Kingston Whig-Standard: Jan 20 1949 said:"Frank Boucher...does not approve or applaud the rules of this era which have turned hockey into a combination of shinny and wrestling with no holds barred. Mons. Boucher has also declared that the red line, which he says he invented as a wartime measure, has outlived its welcome and should be scrapped."
Additionally some thoughts from that same article on goaltender interference:
"I would increase the goal crease by a foot out front and six inches to each side of the goal. There also should be a penalty for anyone who moves into the crease and interferes with the goalkeeper before the puck enters said crease. Gaolkeepers have little enough chance without allowing players to park on their toes."