Laurie Boschman

As a junior with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Laurie Boschman centered a line featuring future NHLers Brian Propp and Ray Allison. The trio clicked in a big way with Boschman potting 149 points in 65 games in his final year with the club. He also collected 215 penalty minutes just to serve notice that he could play a mean game as well as an offensively prolific one.

The Toronto Maple Leafs picked him up in 1979 Entry Draft with high expectations. In his rookie campaign, he showed signs that his promise was in the process of delivery. He skated well between John Anderson and Rocky Saganiuk. But in year two, he was felled with mononucleosis. To add to his woes, he was rushed back too soon after the illness had struck. As such, he skated like a tired hound dog at the end of a long hunt. His situation was further exacerbated when the club's owner, Harold Ballard, suggested that Boschman's Christian beliefs were at the root of his poor play.

Needless to say, his days as a Leaf were numbered. In 1982, he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Walt Poddubny and Phil Drouillard. With the Oilers, Boschman needed only one thing to get back on track?plenty of ice time. But that was the one commodity that was hard to come by amidst a lineup so deep in talent. As a result, he was passed along to the Winnipeg Jets in 1983.

In Winnipeg, Boschman finally found a stable environment where he could establish his game. He developed a relentlessly determined style of play that brought him plenty of opportunities to scrap and to score points. Over the seven years that followed, he became a mainstay as a solid, two-way performer who consistently put points on the board and covered his own end of the rink with tenacity.

In 1990, Boschman was traded to the New Jersey Devils. By then, his productivity was beginning to wane. He continued on as a defensive-minded forward for two more seasons before finishing his NHL career with the Ottawa Senators in 1993. After a year of retirement, he played one final campaign for the Fife Flyers in England.