Phillipe Richard Bourque (The Ol’ Two-Niner) was born on June 8, 1962 in Chelmsford, Ma. He is a distant cousin to HOF Defenseman Raymond Bourque and a former Left Winger in the National League Hockey league. Bourque was not selected in the NHL Entry Draft but later signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a Free Agent in 1982. He spent the first season with the Penguins AHL affiliate the Baltimore SkipJacks.

Bourque made his NHL debut with the Penguins on October 4, 1983 vs the St. Louis Blues. He would not become a bigger part of the team until the 1988-1989 season, in which he played all 80 games. Before then he split time between the Penguins and their affiliate Skipjacks and the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Bourque won the Governor’s Trophy with the Lumberjacks in the IHL for best defenseman in the 1987-1988 season.

Phil scored his first and only hat trick on December 3, 1990 vs the New York Rangers helping the team to a 9-4 win. Another infamous night for Bourque was against the Detroit Red Wings on December 16, 1990. After being freed on a breakaway, Bourque carried the puck into the zone with his stick twisted. He used the tip of the blade to carry the puck but missed the goal.

He was part of both of the Penguins Stanley Cup teams in the 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 seasons. He is famously quoted during the team’s first Cup victory celebration as saying “What do you say we take this thing down to the river and party all summer.”

Phil Bourque left the Penguins following the 2nd Stanley Cup victory after the 1992 season and played with the New York Rangers and the Ottawa Senators.

In 1994, He took a horrific fall from a 40ft cliff in Lake Powell, AZ. He suffered three broken vertebrae in his neck, a broken skull, a shattered sinus cavity, a broken cheekbone and a broken nose in the incident. He left the NHL after the 1995-1996 season. He then played with the IHL’s Chicago Wolves for one season, and spent three seasons playing in Germany before retiring following the 1999–2000 season.

He finished his Penguins career with 344 games played acquiring 75 Goals, 89 Assists and 164 points. During the three seasons he appeared in the Playoffs he played in 56 games with 13 Goals, 12 Assists and 25 points. Currently, Phil Bourque is the color analyst alongside Mike Lange for Pens Radio Broadcasts.

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