Inductees
Carl Boswick
Inducted in 2013
Category: Athlete
“Checkers are a dime a dozen."
That’s the way former Husky goaltender Chuck Goddard jokingly described his teammate Carl Boswick. What he failed to say, like his coach Bob Boucher would add later, ‘one of the best forecheckers, penalty killers and face off men I have ever coached’. Following his first tryout as a Husky, Boucher would send him to Cleve’s for a new pair of skates (The first since his mother purchased a pair many sizes too large years before). A good fitting pair of skates would make a big difference and it would be a gesture from a coach long remembered and repaid in many ways.
Boucher might have seen something in Boswick that others had missed. He was not a standout in minor hockey or at high school at QEH. His teammate Rick Fraughton would describe him as a tall skinny kid, not overly confident, unassuming, invisible but talented and very busy. In his early years at Saint Mary’s as well as playing hockey, he married Anne, and still found time to run a painting and restoration business.
As well as a checker you could also make a strong case for his offensive abilities when you look at the numbers. In a four year career from 1967 to 1971 he amassed 80 points in 72 games, better than a point a game. Not bad for a checker.
Boswick’s career as a Husky fit in perfectly with the rebirth of the game at Saint Mary’s under Boucher. He was part of a team that won 3 straight AUS crowns and went to 3 CIS finals. Those finals would take place in Edmonton, Charlottetown and Sudbury. They didn’t make the championship game in ‘69 but they did in 1970 and again in ’71. They would meet the University of Toronto on both occasions and lose by a single goal 3-2 and 5-4; scores that Boswick and his teammates remember to this day. On a team loaded with talent in ‘69/’70 he was named the hockey MVP. A year later he was Saint Mary’s Athlete of the Year.
When Boswick wasn’t stealing the puck he was sinking a putt. He was part of the Saint Mary’s team in ‘70/’71 that won the AUS golf championship.
In 1988 he would add the Nova Scotia amateur title to his list of golfing accomplishments.
Boswick played for the love of the game and still does. Among others, he has helped form the Bob Boucher Hockey Assistance Fund, designed to raise money to support hockey at Saint Mary’s and in Nova Scotia.
Portrait Artist: Barb Dorey
Portrait Art Photographer: Shannon Doane