Joseph Émile Alcide "Butch" Bouchard CM CQ - Born September 4, 1919 in Montreal, Quebec - Died April 14, 2012 in Longueuil, Quebec was a Canadian ice Hockey defenceman and league president.

- Stanley Cup champion: 1944, 1946, 1953, 1956 with Montreal Canadiens.

- Prince of Wales Trophy Champion 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1956 with Montreal Canadiens.

- O'Brien Trophy Champion 1947 with Montreal Canadiens.

Bouchard made his NHL debut with Montreal Canadiens on November 1, 1941 vs Detroit Red Wings at Montreal Forum in a 3-2 Detroit win.

Bouchard scored his 1st NHL goal vs Johnny Mowers of Detroit Red Wings at 17:20 of 2nd period on March 24, 1942 at Montreal Forum in a 5-0 Montreal win - game 2 of playoffs.

Bouchard played in 786 regular season NHL games, scoring 49 goals (10 GWG), 144 assists with 865 penalty minutes and 114 NHL playoff games, scoring 11 goals (1 GWG), 21 assists with 121 penalty minutes.

Bouchard was voted by teammates to captain the Canadiens for the 1948-49 season, a position he held until his retirement when accepting the 1956 Stanley Cup championship (photo above).

As Canadiens captain, Bouchard greeted Princess Elizabeth (The Queen) and welcomed her to the Montreal Forum on October 29, 1951 in a game vs New York Rangers, which the Canadiens won 6-1.

When Bouchard joined the Canadiens, his size and physical play is said to be a turning point for the Canadiens as a team, as he also worked hard at studying the game and perfecting his positioning. He was voted to 4 straight NHL All-Star teams, including 3 in a row for NHL First All-Star Team (1945, 1946, 1947) as the leagues best defenceman. He played in the 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1953 NHL All-Star games.

Émile Bouchard was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.

Émile Bouchard received the National Order of Quebec in 2008.

Émile Bouchard was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2009.

Hall of Famer Jean Béliveau, a teammate of Bouchard for Béliveau's early years with the Canadiens, said Bouchard was the model for his time as captain in the 1960s.

The Montreal Canadiens retired Bouchard's No 3 jersey on December 4, 2009, as part of the celebration of their 100th anniversary.

In the 1970s, his son Pierre Bouchard, also a defenceman, played for the Montreal Canadiens. While father Émile participated in the birth of the Montreal Canadiens' dynasty, thirty years later son Pierre played a part in continuing the Canadien dynasty into the 1970s. With Butch's 4 and Pierre's 5 they have the distinction of winning the most Stanley Cups of any father-son combination in NHL history.

NOTE
It was a fight involving Bouchard which led to a significant change in the role of referees. During the 1946–47 season, Bouchard became involved in a prolonged and one-sided fight with Boston's Terry Reardon. Due to the fight, Clarence Campbell, president of the NHL, added to the duties of referees; for the first time, they had the responsibility of breaking up fights.

A reporter once asked the canny Bouchard what he thought of coaching methods in the NHL. He replied, "Hockey should be more like football, with a coach for the defence, one for the offence, and maybe one for the goalies. Coaches for these positions would be implemented decades later.