Wetcoaster
Guest
Yup. Leo "Fireplug" Boivin would rank up there with Baun and Lindsey. He is listed at 5'7" but I met him persoanlly and that had to be with his skates on. He weighed in at around 175-80 pounds.You also got to consider Leo Boivan.
He was traded back to Boston by Toronto for Joe Klukay (another devastating hitter) on November 9, 1954 after three seasons with the Leafs.
Another "compact" player who could hit a ton and gave Tim Horton a run for the NHL strongman title would be Marcel Bonin:
The tenacious Marcel Bonin is fondly remembered for one other "sport" besides hockey. "L'ours de Joliette" - "the bear of Joliette," his hometown, was known to wrestle bears for show. Bonin told the story to Brian McFarlane for his book "The Habs."
"When Joe Louis, the heavyweight boxing champion, retired, he went with the circus because even after all those big fights he had no money. He was a kind of referee, a guy who talked people into wrestling this bear. He said he'd give $1000 to anyone who could put the bear down. And lots of people came and tried.
"Well, I was about 16 and I said, 'I'm gonna go.' So I left my home in Joliette and I wrestled that bear. But he was big and strong and I couldn't put him down.
"But I wouldn't give up. I went to Three Rivers and a lot of other places and I wrestled that bear lots of times. After a while I got to be buddies with that bear. He was a big brown bear with a muzzle and no claws. In lots of towns in Quebec people still remember Marcel the bear wrestler.