geoffrion was born in montreal, quebec, and began playing in the nhl in 1951. he earned the nickname "boom boom" for his thundering slapshot (which geoffrion claimed to have 'invented' as a youngster ) from sportswriter charlie boire of the "montreal star" in the late 1940s while playing junior hockey for the laval nationale. he was the second player in nhl history to score 50 goals in one season, the first being teammate maurice richard. half the time, he played left-wing on montreal's front line with fellow superstars richard and jean béliveau, helping the canadiens to six stanley cup championships, and at other times was right wing on the no. 2 line. but geoffrion had a hard time convincing the nhl of his considerable talents; maurice richard, jean beliveau, bobby hull (chicago blackhawks) and gordie howe (detroit red wings) were so good that they overshadowed him. even after geoffrion won the art ross trophy as league scoring champion in 1955, nhl first all-star honours went to richard, while geoffrion only was selected to the second.