Dave Forbes

January 4th, 1975 is one night Henry Boucha will never forget. It is also one night Dave Forbes would like to forget.

The two players got into a fight during the Boston-Minnesota game. The two were sent to serve their 5 minute major penalties in the penalty box, but the Bruins' Forbes vowed revenge. Instead of cooling off in the sin-bin, Forbes anger reach a boiling point. When their penalties expired and the two players stepped back on to the ice, Forbes immediately attacked Boucha. He hit the young Minnesotan in the eye with the butt end of his stick, opening a 25 stitch gash. As Boucha lay helplessly on the ice, Forbes pounced on top of him and began wailing his badly damaged eye with hammering punches.

Boucha's eye socket was badly fractured. He never regained full sight in that eye, which all but effectively ended his career. After a sorry comeback attempt, Boucha retired from hockey. Forbes was slapped on the wrist by the NHL with a 10 game suspension. However soon the law would come after Forbes too. He was subsequently indicted for aggravated assault for his on-ice antics. It was a landmark case in that for the first time a hockey player faced legal consequences for his actions during a National Hockey League game.

Dave was a tough left winger though other than the one incident with Boucha he was a fairly clean player.. He was a banger and crasher, a player whose hustle made him a fan favorite in the Boston Gardens. Forbes played 4 seasons with Boston before being picked up on waivers by the Washington Capitals for the 1977-78 season. In all, Forbes played in 363 NHL games scoring 64 goals and 64 assists. Surprisingly, Forbes didn't have big penalty minute totals. In fact he only had 341 career PIMs, less than a minute a game.