Forward Roger Bournbonnais got his start in ice hockey with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Central Albert Hockey League and played with them from 1960 through 1963. During his final year he was team captain and won a Memorial Cup, given annually to the junior men’s ice hockey champions in Canada, and played one game with the Edmonton Flyers of the Western Hockey League. He also graduated with a bachelor’s of arts from the University of Alberta and joined the freshly-founded Canadian national ice hockey team, travelling with them to the 1964 Winter Olympics, where he played in eight matches and scored two goals. The team, however, placed fourth after losing the final to the Soviet Union and being dropped to fourth place by the tournament’s tiebreaker. The World Championships had different rules, however, and the Canadians are credited with World Championship bronze that year. He split 1964-1965 between the Winnipeg Maroons of the Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League and an unsuccessful Canadian team at the World Championships. He played the remainder of his career, which lasted until 1969, with the national team, earning bronze medals at the 1966 and 1967 World Championships, as well as the 1968 Winter Olympics, where he scored four goals in seven games. He also spent some time with the Edmonton Nuggets of the Western Canada Senior Hockey League during the 1967-1968 season. By the time of his retirement he had a law degree from the University of Manitoba, having earned it in 1967 despite many offers to turn professional with the Detroit Red Wings. He was inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999. He practiced law in Edmonton until 1980 and, after a self-professed burnout, spent a year in Europe with his family and then joined the Vancouver firm Alexander, Holburn, Beaudin and Lang.
Canada