rode a bike , which also allowed him to pocket the travel expenses the Canadiens had allotted. In an era when hockey players were regarded by hockey management as rural and unsophisticated, Bouchard had already developed his entrepreneurial skills. While still in high school he was working alongside an inspector with the Department of Agriculture when he came across a bee ranch owned by a priest who had just died. Borrowing $500 from his brother he bought the business. He turned it into an apiary of 200 hives which was so successful he earned enough to buy his parents a home. It was due to this business acuity that prior to signing with the Canadiens he uncovered what Ken Reardon and Elmer Lach, already playing with the Montreal, were currently earning. Then, over the course of ten days he negotiated a larger contract than either player had been receiving, $3,750 ($ in dollars). NHL career Arrival to the Canadiens Along with a strong work ethic and keen intellect, Bouchard was physically imposing. At and he was considered a giant compared to NHL players of the 1940s, when the average height was and average weight was . Moreover, since he also practiced heavy weight training in an era before NHL players were concerned about upper body strength he became a very effective defensive presence. Hockey Hall of Fame leftwinger and teammate Dickie Moore said of Bouchard: "He appeared to have been chiseled out of stone." By the time of Bouchard's arrival to the Montreal Canadiens the club had not won the championship for 10 years and attendance at the Forum was very low, often less than 3,000 a game, and there was talk of folding the franchise. A few years earlier, in 1935, Canadien owners had seriously considered an offer to sell the team to be moved to Cleveland. After finishing last or near the bottom of the league for several years, apathy of the fans was matched by the players themselves who had accepted losing as way of hockey life. In his first training camp, he showcased his physical play by body-checking players, including veterans, with abandon. When the season started other teams discovered that with Bouchard in the lineup they could no longer push Canadien players around. Bouchard's presence reinvigorated the Canadiens and he is credited with playing an important part in keeping the franchise from leaving Montreal. However,