Focus on a Thrasher: Eric Boulton

Eric Boulton is the Thrashers resident tough guy. He's also Atlanta's resident redneck good ol' boy. He drives a giant pick-up truck and loves to hunt and fish. He fits in here in North Georgia perfectly. He is also Duluth's biggest rink rat. It's rare to show up at the Duluth Ice Forum and not find Boultsie. I've heard during the summer that he even plays higher level rec league men's hockey sometime. He usually has one or more of his kids in tow with him. He's just another Georgia good ol' boy!




Boultsie plays on our rough and tumble fourth line with Chris Thorburn and Jim Slater. This line is called "the Greek Gods" line. The name came from a friend of radio announcer Dan Kamal's, Jake Depuydt:

Depuydt brainstormed about the Thrashers. Thorburn’s nickname is “Thor,” as in the Germanic god of thunder. Boulton’s nickname is “Bolts.” “The idea was it’s lightning on one side and thunder on the other,” Depuydt said.

Eric Boulton was born on August 17, 1976 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.





Boultsie started his career in the OHL. He began the 1993-94 season with the Oshawa Generals.





Bolts was selected in the 9th round (234th overall) in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. Boultsie finished the season in the OHL, splitting the season between the Oshawa Generals and the Sarnia Sting.





The 1995-96 season was Boultsie's best junior year. He played 66 games with the sting and scored 43 points while tallying 243 penalty minutes.





Eric spent most of the 1996-97 season with the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL He also played 23 Binghamton Rangers.





During the 1997-98 Eric played most of the season with the Checkers again. He also played 8 Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL.





The 1998-99 season was busy for Eric, he split the season between 3 teams. He played 34 games with the Kentucky Thoroughblades of the AHL , 26 games with the Florida Everblades of the ECHL and 7 games with the Houston Aeros of the IHL. He scored a total of 29 points for the season.





Eric signed as a free agent with the Buffalo Sabres on August 8, 1999. He spent all of 1999-00 season with the Rochester Americans.





Eric spent the next four seasons with the Buffalo Sabres scoring 17 points and tallying 511 penalty minutes.





During the NHL lockout, Eric played for the Columbia Inferno of the ECHL where he scored a career high 39 points. He tied for second on the team for goals with 23.





On August 8, 2005, Boultsie signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Thrashers and has been busting skulls ever since.


Skulls aren't all Boultsie has busted, check out this video of him busting his ass.




Boultsie has quite a rap sheet on hockeyfights.com. He has 111 fights on file.





In October 2005, Boultsie got into a bit of controversy over an elbow delivered to Tampa Bay Lightning's rookie, Paul Ranger. The incident came at the end of a game where the Thrashers were getting beaten 6-0. The incident caused a hairline fracture of Ranger's jaw and a concussion. Boultsie was suspended for 6 games. A week earlier Boultsie had made a similar move against Toronto's Eric Lindros. NHL Vice President, Colin Campbell said:

"It is clear Mr. Boulton's actions were careless and caused injury. There is no circumstance that can justify this type of action."

Coaches for both Tampa Bay and Toronto had angry responses to Boulton's style of play.
John Tortorella said, "No one wants to see him on the ice."


We love our tough guy. Keep it up Boultsie, hopefully no one gets permanently injured.