Derek Boogaard dies at 28
Minneapolis – Former Minnesota Wild forward Derek Boogaard was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment on Friday.
Boogaard (28) was found by members of his family.
The cause of death is not known.
Boogard played for the Minnesota Wild for five years and was one of their more popular players. He joined the New York Rangers last year.
Known as the ‘Boogeyman’ when he played for the Wild, Boogaard was the team’s tough guy; the team’s enforcer.
He was also one of the club’s most popular players during the five years he played for Minnesota. The Wild released this statement late Friday night – “The Minnesota Wild organization sends our deepest sympathies to the family of Derek Boogaard. Derek was a fan favorite during his five seasons with the Wild and will be greatly missed here in Minnesota and throughout the NHL. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Boogaard family during this tragic time of loss.”
- Derek Boogaard.
Derek Boogaard (28-year-old New York Rangers enforcer) was found dead Friday in Minneapolis, the latest athlete to die suddenly and far too young. Blueshirt Banter covered the news Friday night, and their comments section is a good place to go for the tributes and comments that are trickling in across the internet, from hockey fans, players, and writers.
I never know how to process an athlete’s death, though in St. Louis we’ve had to do more of it than most.
Athletes are selected on the basis of their relative inhumanity — their ability to transcend our own limitations and to do things that allow us, really, to objectify them. Albert Pujols isn’t a human being, he’s a hitter; Steven Jackson isn’t a human being, he’s a running back. When players die young they show us just how slight that seemingly unnavigable distance between us and them is; they show us everyone’s fundamental mortality.
And everyone’s humanity. Boogaard — who I hadn’t honestly heard of before Friday — was apparently both a fighter, an on-ice villain-for-hire, and an incredibly decent, kind human being. He’ll be replaced as a hockey player, but he’ll be missed as a person.
In the midst of the NHL Playoffs we are all reminded that though hockey is sport it is much more than just a game.
Yesterday New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard passed away. Boogaard may have only been 28 but had a strong follow still in Minnesota where he played the first five years of his NHL career for the Wild.
Boogaard: known as the Boogey Man missed the majority of his first season with the Rangers due to a concussion. It took months before he was to skate again, and never suited back up for a game. After the regular season ended he went home to Minneapolis to start conditioning.
It was in his Minneapolis apartment where he was found yesterday.
The news charged though the hockey community not just in Minnesota and New York; but globally. There has been an out pour of condolences to the Boogaard family, friends, the Wild, Rangers, and fans whom have lost a beloved player.
Boogaard spent time in the summer in Russia working along side Red Wings own Pavel Datsyuk at a hockey school.
I would like to think that just maybe it was Datsyuk that gave Boogaard the scoring touch to score that goal against the Capitals this season to end his goalless drought. However, I think it is more realistic that Boogaard is the one that taught Datsyuk how to throw down that has lead to the more scrappy-confident two-way (all-way) player the Red Wings have now.
You may have left us. But you will never be forgotten.