Henry Boucha will be eulogized in a hockey arena and laid to rest in the town where he became famous as a hockey player: Hockeytown USA.
The funeral for Boucha, who died Monday at 72, will be Sept. 29 at Gardens Arena in Warroad, Minn. That's the arena where Warroad high school hockey teams play, where Boucha's No. 16 hangs, where banners commemorate Warroad hockey state championships.
Boucha scored 60 goals in 1969 and led Warroad to the 1969 Minnesota state tournament, where his tiny school reached the championship game, against Edina. A punctured eardrum knocked Boucha out of the game, and Edina won 5-4 in overtime.
The 15,066 in attendance at Met Center that day represented the largest crowd at the time to watch a high school hockey game in Minnesota.
Boucha, an Ojibwe who championed causes on behalf of Native Americans, also played in the NHL, World Hockey Association and on the U.S. Olympic team, winning a silver medal in 1972.
Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. at the arena, and the funeral will begin at 2 p.m. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery in Warroad.
