Gilles Bouchard (born February 28, 1971) is a Canadian ice hockey coach with the Syracuse Crunch in the American Hockey League. He previously coached the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for five seasons. In the 2015–16 QMJHL season, he led the Huskies to the Jean Rougeau Trophy as regular season champions, the President's Cup as playoffs champions, and reached the final in the 2016 Memorial Cup. After that season, Bouchard was awarded the Ron Lapointe Trophy as the QMJHL Coach of the Year, the Maurice Filion Trophy as the QMJHL Executive of the Year, and the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award for the Canadian Hockey League. Early life Gilles Bouchard was born on February 28, 1971, in Normandin, Quebec, and grew up on the local family farm. Playing career Bouchard played three seasons as a winger in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) from 1988 to 1991, with the Shawinigan Cataractes, the Trois-Rivières Draveurs, the Beauport Harfangs, and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. He was traded to Chicoutimi partway through the 1990–91 QMJHL season, and played in the 1991 Memorial Cup under coach Jos Canale. After junior hockey, he played two seasons for the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), then later played four seasons in the Quebec Semi-Pro Hockey League. Coaching career Early years Bouchard coached AAA midget hockey from 1998 to 2012. He spent four seasons with the Trois-Rivières Estacades as an assistant coach from 1998 to 2002, two seasons as the head coach of the Bois-Francs Cascades Espoir from 2002 to 2004, and eight seasons as head coach of the Trois-Rivières Estacades from 2004 to 2012. He did not pursue coaching at a higher level sooner due to a desire to stay closer to his family, and establish a teaching position in charge of AAA midget and sport studies. Bouchard served as head coach of the UQTR Patriotes for the 2012–13 Canadian Interuniversity Sport season. He successfully rebuilt the Patriotes, and led the team to its first Queen's Cup championship since 2007, with a five-game victory over the Waterloo Warriors. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies Bouchard served as head coach and general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for five seasons from 2013–14 to 2017–18. He succeeded André Tourigny for the 2013–14 QMJHL season. Bouchard felt that his background coaching midget hockey helped him quickly adapt to the