Alain Caron: The Other "Boom Boom"

At 38 years old, Alain Caron became a legend of the North American Hockey League in what would be his final year of professional hockey. Caron suffered a heart attack in the off-season and was forced to retire from the game.

A veteran of a pro hockey career that began in 1959-60, Caron played one game with the NAHL's Syracuse Blazers in 1974-75 before spending the full 1975-76 season with the Beauce Jaros. In 73 regular season games with the Jaros, Alain scored 78 goals and assisted on 59 more for 137 points. Uncharacteristic of the league, Caron accumulated just 26 minutes in penalties.

His 78 goals was the second highest single season total in NAHL history, behind just Dave Staffen who scored 87 the following season. He finished first in goal scoring in 1975-76 and his 137 points were good for fourth in the league. In the playoffs, he added 21 more goals and 13 assists for 34 points in just 14 games as the Jaros reached the Lockhart Cup finals before falling to the Philadelphia Firebirds.

His career from 1959-60 to 1966-67 was spent in the minor leagues. With expansion in 1967, Caron was finally able to make it to the big show. He was property of the Chicago Black Hawks when the Oakland Seals selected him in the expansion draft. He played 58 games with Oakland in 1967-68 and two more with the Montreal Canadiens the following year.

Alain played an additional 195 games of major league hockey in the World Hockey Association between 1972-73 and 1974-75 with the Quebec Nordiques and Michigan Stags / Baltimore Blades.

However, it was during his minor league days that Caron excelled. in 1962-63, with the St. Louis Braves of the Eastern Professional Hockey League, Alain was first in the league with 61 goals in just 54 games. An interesting bit of hockey trivia - second to Caron on the Braves was Phil Esposito in his first year of pro hockey. Esposito scored 36 goals and finished fifth in the league.

The following year, Caron was still with the Braves but the league had changed to the Central Professional Hockey League. He once again led in goals with 77. His 125 points were also the best in the league.

With the Buffalo Bisons in 1965-66, his goal total was a more down-to-earth 47 but it tied him for the Americna Hockey League lead with Dick Gamble of the Rochester Americans.

The man that was also named "Boom Boom" was dissed by the major hockey card companies, with exception of 1972-73. Alain Caron was included in the 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee NHL set that featured a selection of WHA players in the higher numbers. The Alain Caron rookie card (and only card) is number 324 in that set.

Find Alain Caron Rookie Cards at eBay, right now!

It was heart problems that forced Caron from the game and it was heart problems again in 1986 that ended his life at just 48 years old.

Paul Holmgren: Humble Beginnings in the NAHL

He had a fairly lengthy and successful NHL career and has been in the head office of the Philadelphia Flyers for many years. Yet, Paul Holmgren got his pro hockey start in the North American Hockey League.

Holmgren played just six games for the Johnstown Jets during the 1975-76 NAHL season. He would be known in the NHL as an enforcer but for his short stint in Johnstown, Holmgren was an offensive powerhouse who visited the sin bin relatively seldom. Afterall, the Jets had the ‘Hanson Brothers’ (Dave Hanson, Jeff Carlson and Steve Carlson) of Slapshot fame to do the team’s dirty work.

In his six games in the NAHL, Holmgren scored three goals and assisted on 12 for 15 points while sitting just 12 minutes in the box. The Jets finished first in the West Division and second overall in the NAHL. Johnstown lost in the semi-finals to eventual Lockhart Cup champions, the Philadelphia Firebirds. Also playing an offensive role for the Jets early in his pro hockey career was Bruce Boudreau.

Paul was a third round pick of the Edmonton Oilers at the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft, 38^th overall. He was also taken by the Flyers in the sixth round of the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft, 108^th overall. In that 1975-76 season, Holmgren also played 51 games in the World Hockey Association with the Minnesota Fighting Saints, six games in the AHL with the Richmond Robins and a single game in the NHL with the Flyers.

Holmgren played 527 regular season games in the National Hockey League between 1976-77 and 1984-85 and accumulated 1,684 penalty minutes. He was second in the NHL to Dave ‘Tiger’ Williams with 306 PIM during the 1980-81 season.

Perhaps, his career year in the NHL came in 1979-80. In 74 regular season games with the Flyers, he scored 30 goals and assisted on 35 for 65 points. Staying in character, Paul also spent 267 minutes in the box. In the playoffs, he scored ten and assisted on ten more for 20 points in 18 games. The Pat Quinn coached Flyers finished first overall in the NHL with 116 points. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Philadelphia lost just 2 games over the first three series before losing in six games to the New York Islanders in the finals.

Holmgren has been on the Flyers staff since retiring from the game, with exception of a stint as head coach of the Hartford Whalers between 1992-93 and 1995-96. Paul has been General Manager of the Flyers since taking over from Bobby Clarke during the 2006-07 season. For the past two years, Holmgren has been also GM of the Adirondack Phantoms of the American Hockey League.

 

 

Gilles Bilodeau: NAHL Single Season PIM Record Holder

Perhaps, the North American Hockey League, as shown in the movie ‘Slap Shot’, is best represented by Gilles Bilodeau. Gilles ‘Bad News’ Bilodeau had little to do with hockey and a lot to do with fighting and other violence on the ice.

Gilles played one year of junior hockey in 1974-75 with the Sorel Eperviers (Black Hawks) of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The year before, Sorel provided the hockey world with offense like it had never been seen before.

The team in 1973-74, led by Pierre Larouche and his 251 points, had seven players total more than 100 points, two over 200. Three Eperviers scored more than 90 goals during the 72 game regular season. Sorel finished first overall in the 10 team QMJHL but fell in the playoff finals to the Quebec Remparts.

As is often the case in junior hockey, the offensive power moved on to the pro ranks and the 1974-75 Eperviers were left with a group better fit for the boxing ring. Bilodeau sat 377 minutes in the penalty box over 62 games. Although a high total, it was nothing compared to teammate Roger Seguin who accumulated 494 minutes while somehow playing the full 72 game schedule without suspension. The two finished 1-2 in the QMJHL for the PIM category that season.

There were, of course, no National Hockey League takers for Gilobeau at the NHL Amateur Draft. He did, however, fit a certain mold that the World Hockey Association was looking for and the Toronto Toros selected him in the ninth round of the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft, 121^st overall. Over his pro hockey career, Gilles played 143 WHA regular season games between 1975-76 and 1978-79 with the Toros, Birmingham Bulls and Quebec Nordiques.

It was in his first year of pro hockey, 1975-76, that Bilodeau made his presence known in the North American Hockey League. Gilles played 58 games with the Beauce Jaros while also playing 14 games for the WHA Toros. In those 58 games, he scored eight goals and assisted on 17 more for 25 points. But, it was his penalty total that gave him ‘fame’.

The Jaros were first overall and had the first player in pro hockey history to total more than 200 points in a season on the roster. Joe Hardy led the league with 208 points. Bilodeau was in the sin bin for 451 minutes, a 7.8 PIM per game pace. He finished first in the NAHL in that category, 140 minutes ahead of the next contender, Dave Hanson of the Johnstown Chiefs. In the playoffs, he added 46 more PIM, playing just five games while the Jaros cruised to the Lockhart Cup finals before losing to the Philadelphia Firebirds.

In his second pro season, Gilles sat 242 PIM in just 28 games for the Charlotte Checkers of the SHL. He played pro from 1975-76 to 1980-81 and had a two game stint with the Birmingham Bulls of the ACHL in 1983-84. Over 374 pro regular season games, Bilodeau sat 1,763 minutes in the box, a 4.7 PIM per game pace.

Bilodeau actually saw action in the NHL. After playing with the Quebec Nordiques in the final year of the World Hockey Association, 1978-79, he moved with the franchise to the NHL for 1979-80. Gilles played a total of nine games in the NHL with the Nordiques. Unfortunately, Gilles Bilodeau passed away in 2008.

Rod Bloomfield: A Binghamton Hall of Famer

Rod Bloomfield played the full four year duration of the NAHL with the Binghamton Dusters (also known as Broome Dusters). He carried on with the club for one more season, 1977-78, when the franchise joined the American Hockey League.

During his North American Hockey League career, Bloomfield played 288 regular season games, scoring 187 goals and assisting on 310 for 497 points. In the tradition of the NAHL, Bloomfield also sat 417 minutes in the penalty box.

Rod led the league in goals during the 1974-75 season with 55. He was twice the NAHL assists leader with 73 in 1973-74 and an incredible 124 in 1976-77. In the final season of the league, Bloomfield was the scoring champion with 173 points. The point total was pretty incredible but a far cry from the NAHL record of 208 set the year before by Joe Hardy of the Beauce Jaros.

His four years with the Dusters in the NAHL and his one year with the club in the AHL were his only five years in professional hockey. He turned 26 years old during his first season and called it quits after during his fifth year due to an injury resulting from a puck to the eye. I still find it surprising he never saw at least some action with a WHA club. Sure, he was small with a listed playing height of 5’6” and weighing in at just 160 lbs. However, at the time, guys like Andre Lacroix in the WHA and Yvan Cournoyer in the NHL were proving the little guys could get it done.

Bloomfield was Binghamton’s team leader in each of the four seasons. In 1974-75, he led the Dusters to the Lockhart Cup finals before being swept by the Johnstown Jets in four games. Over 15 playoff games, Rod scored ten goals and assisted on nine more for 19 points.

The NAHL is known as the inspiration behind the cult classic move, Slap Shot. Although uncredited, Bloomfield acted as Paul Newman’s on-ice stunt double during the movie.

In 1999, Rod was inducted into the Binghamton Hockey Hall of Fame. It was just the Hall’s second year of existence. The Hall of Fame doesn’t have a web presence and is located inside the Broome County Veteran’s Memorial Arena. The Arena was completed in 1973, just in time for the Dusters to be its first tenants.

Bloomfield is also an inductee at the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in Parry Sound, Ontario. He was inducted as an individual in 2011. In 2012, he was inducted again as a member of the 1961-62 Parry Sound Bantams, a team that also included Bobby Orr.

 

Guy Trottier: Coach and Star of the Buffalo Norsemen

Guy Trottier played his last of 14 years in professional hockey with the Buffalo Norsemen of the NAHL. Trottier also acted as the head coach of the Norsemen, a team that finished fourth in the West Division with 30 wins and 60 points over the 74 game schedule. Buffalo met the Johnstown Jets in the opening round and lost three games to two. The final and deciding game of the series was a 1-0 win by the Jets. Trottier finished the year with a respectable 36 goals and 22 assists for 58 points over 56 regular season games.

Trottier played pro from 1963-64 to 1975-76, appearing in five different leagues, the IHL, AHL, NHL, WHA and NAHL. At the highest level, Guy played 115 games in the National Hockey League between 1968-69 and 1971-72 with the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. His World Hockey Association career lasted 174 games from 1972-73 to 1974-75 with the Ottawa Nationals, Toronto Toros and Michigan Stags.

In just his second year of pro hockey, Trottier tied for fourth place in the IHL with 46 goals as a member of the Dayton Gems. The following year, the numbers improved greatly with Guy placing third with 68 goals and tied for second with 132 points, just one off the leader. In 1966-67, He scored a career high 71 goals with the Gems to lead the IHL, 19 goals more than the second place finisher. His 135 point placed his second, four behind Len Thornson of the Fort Wayne Komets.

Trottier led the American Hockey League in goal scoring for the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons with the Buffalo Bisons. In the first year, he scored 45 goals and in 1969-70, the final year of existence for the Bisons, Guy scored 55.

Only two mainstream hockey cards were ever produced featuring Trottier. His 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee rookie card is valued as a common. The card had him in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. His 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee card is valued at a whopping $8 as it’s part of the first set of WHA hockey cards that came at the back end of the 1972-73 NHL set. Guy is on the card as a member of the Ottawa Nationals.

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1957-58	Trois Rivieres Lions	QHL	2	0	0	0	0
1963-64	Phila-.Greensboro	EHL	27	14	16	30	38
1963-64	Port Huron Flags	IHL	42	19	15	34	52
1964-65	Dayton Gems	IHL	68	46	42	88	56
1965-66	Dayton Gems	IHL	66	68	64	132	16
1966-67	Dayton Gems	IHL	67	71	64	135	23
1967-68	Buffalo Bisons	AHL	41	16	19	35	6
1968-69	New York Rangers	NHL	2	0	0	0	0
1968-69	Buffalo Bisons	AHL	72	45	37	82	21
1969-70	Buffalo Bisons	AHL	71	55	33	88	8
1970-71	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	61	19	5	24	21
1971-72	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL	52	9	12	21	16
1972-73	Ottawa Nationals	WHA	72	26	32	58	25
1973-74	Toronto Toros	WHA	71	27	35	62	58
1974-75	Dayton Gems	IHL	20	12	5	17	6
1974-75	Toronto Toros	WHA	14	4	4	8	4
1974-75	Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades	WHA	17	5	4	9	2
1975-76	Buffalo Norsemen	NAHL	56	36	22	58	59
	NHL Totals		115	28	17	45	37
	WHA Totals		174	62	75	137	89