Playing Career
While Bonvie, a 5'11", 205-pound right winger, had appeared in 92 National Hockey League games with six different NHL teams since he turned pro in 1993 with the Edmonton Oilers, he spent the vast majority of his career in the American Hockey League in which he played with eight different clubs. Bonvie was known for a physical style of play and his primary role as the enforcer for his various teams. In his 92 NHL games, he recorded 311 PIMs.
As a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs in 1997, Bonvie established a then-single season AHL record for penalty minutes (PIM) with 522, a mark which stood for eight seasons before being eclipsed in 2004–05 by Brian McGrattan of the Binghamton Senators with 551. Bonvie's eventual career AHL penalty minute total, 4,493 minutes (in just 871 regular season games) was a remarkable 1,553 more than Rob Murray's second overall career AHL record high total 2,940 PIM in 1,018 games over fifteen seasons. During the 2008 season, Bonvie surpassed Kevin Evans for the most career penalty minutes in professional hockey history.
Bonvie's first and only NHL goal was scored when he was a member of the Boston Bruins. Bonvie had captured the puck at the blue line and let a hard slapshot go right at the top of the faceoff circle. He beat Chris "Ozzy" Osgood, who was playing for the St.Louis Blues at the time, fivehole. After Dennis had scored, he went by Osgood and said jokingly, "I think it's time you better retire."
The Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, home of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, is often called the "house that Bonvie built."
In the 2007–08 season, he played as a member of the Eastern Conference champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins before eventually losing the 2008 Calder Cup in six games to the Chicago Wolves. Bonvie retired after the season.
Bonvie's younger brother Herb also played pro hockey but is now retired. Bonvie currently operates the Dennis Bonvie Hockey Camp in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Read more about this topic: Dennis Bonvie
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
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