The Curse of Eric Boulton Traditional Cache
The Curse of Eric Boulton
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The CURSE of Eric Boulton
Eric Boulton was born on August 17, 1976 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was drafted by New York Rangers in the 9th round (#234 overall) in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. He last played in the NHL for the New York Islanders (more or less) in the 2015-16 season. He has scored 31 goals and 79 points in 654 career games. See his career stats here. After his playing career ended, he continued his association with the Islanders in a scouting role.
Amazingly, he recorded a hat trick on December 18, 2010 while playing for the Atlanta Thrashers (see video).
The team then moved north to Winnipeg, and no other hat tricks were scored by the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise for almost 4 years! (1,447 days over a span of 287 games). During this lengthy and gloomy drought, and because the last hat trick in the history of the Jets/Atlanta franchise was achieved by a non-traditional scorer, this period in Jets history became known as The Curse of Eric Boulton.
The curse was finally lifted on December 5 2014 when Bryan Little scored three goals in a 6-2 Jets victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
Watch Little's memorable three-goal performance here:
Breaking the curse
Since then, several Jets have scored three (or more) goals to further bury Boulton's curse.
| Jets player |
Date |
Opponent |
| Bryan Little |
December 5 2014 |
Colorado Avalanche |
| Mathieu Perreault |
January 13 2015 |
Florida Panthers (4 goals) |
| Nikolaj Ehlers |
January 26 2016 |
Arizona Coyotes |
| Mark Scheifele |
March 5 2016 |
Montreal Canadiens |
| Patrik Laine |
October 19 2016 |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Patrik Laine |
November 8 2016 |
Dallas Stars |
| Patrik Laine |
February 14 2017 |
Dallas Stars |
| Nikolaj Ehlers |
October 9 2017 |
Edmonton Oilers |
| Blake Wheeler |
October 28 2017 |
Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Mark Scheifele |
November 2 2017 |
Dallas Stars |
| Patrik Laine |
March 6 2018 |
NY Rangers |
| Brandon Tanev |
March 27 2018 |
Boston Bruins |
| Patrik Laine |
November 1 2018 |
Florida Panthers |
| Patrik Laine |
November 19 2018 |
Vancouver Canucks |
| Patrik Laine |
November 24 2018 |
St. Louis Blues (5 goals) |
| Nikolaj Ehlers |
November 29 2018 |
Chicago Black Hawks |
| Nikolaj Ehlers |
December 20 2018 |
San Jose Sharks |
| Jack Roslovic |
February 2 2019 |
Anaheim Ducks |
| Blake Wheeler |
March 3 2019 |
Columbus Blue Jackets (4 goals) |
| Kyle Connor |
March 23 2019 |
Nashville Predators |
| Kyle Connor |
December 31 2019 |
Colorado Avalanche |
| Patrik Laine |
February 8 2020 |
Ottawa Senators |
| Mark Scheifele |
February 20 2020 |
Ottawa Senators |
| Andrew Copp |
March 24 2021 |
Vancouver Canucks (4 goals) |
| Mark Scheifele |
December 3 2021 |
New Jersey Devils |
| Mark Scheifele |
February 16 2022 |
Minnesota Wild |
| Kyle Connor |
November 17 2022 |
Anaheim Ducks |
| Blake Wheeler |
November 29 2022 |
Colorado Avalanche |
| Mark Scheifele |
December 13 2022 |
Vegas Golden Knights |
| Mark Scheifele |
December 29 2022 |
Vancouver Canucks |
| Kyle Connor |
January 8 2023 |
Vancouver Canucks |
| Nino Niederreiter |
November 4 2023 |
Arizona Coyotes |
| Kyle Connor |
November 9 2023 |
Nashville Predators |
| Sean Monahan |
February 18 2024 |
Calgary Flames |
| Mark Scheifele |
March 19 2024 |
New York Rangers |
| Gabriel Vilardi |
April 4 2024 |
Calgary Flames |
What happens to all those hats?
The Winnipeg Jets, like some other NHL teams, collect the hats thrown on the ice, clean them, and display them in a special case honouring the Jets' hattrick scorers complete with a video screen depicting all those great goals. Check out the display case for yourself on the second level concourse of Canada Life Centre. (Free public access is available during the day, evenings and weekends, except on event days.)
Up until February 8 2015, Eric Boulton also held the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise record for most career penalty minutes with 639. The new mark is now held by Chris Thorburn with 832.
You are looking for a bison tube.
It's winter-friendly; and while not magnetic, you'd think it should be.
Please don't search on weekdays during business hours.
Don't hang around GZ with the cache. Please "take the cache for a walk" while signing in away from GZ.
To help overcome the signal bounce of the downtown 'urban canyon' it might be helpful to use Google Maps Satellite View and/or Street View to help narrow your search.
Across the street is Emptyful, a public art sculpture by Bill Pechet. Please see here and here for more information on this wonderful art piece. The "funnelator" is also nearby, half a block north at the corner of Graham and Donald. Both look great at night.
Detailed attributes listing: Winter-friendly, available 24/7, but it's in a high muggle area so please do not search during weekday business hours, recommend searching in the evening, no poison plants but you many encounter some evil junipers on the way to GZ, public art across the street, public transit nearby, parking fees may apply, no need to climb any walls, hockey nearby, best not to search during weekday business hours, don't hang around GZ with the cache; please take the cache for "a walk" befre signing in.
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Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Uvag 1: Fgnl ba gur fvqrjnyx fvqr bs gur jnyy (vr: rnfg bs gur jnyy), abg gur Pvglcynpr ybnqvat nern fvqr. Uvag 2: Oruvaq Wrgf OYHR (zvqqyr bar). Uvag 3: Hfr Tbbtyr Zncf Fngryyvgr Ivrj / Fgerrg Ivrj gb uryc birepbzr fvtany obhapr. Uvag 4: Jvagre-sevraqyl. Uvagf 5/6/7/8: Oruvaq. Ovfba ghor. Aba-zntargvp. Unatvat. Cyrnfr qba’g gebzc ba gur ohfurf. Jngpu sbe zhttyrf. Orfg abg gb frnepu qhevat jrrxqnl ohfvarff ubhef. Cyrnfr qba’g unat nebhaq TM jvgu gur pnpur; gnxr vg sbe n yvggyr jnyx nf lbh fvta va.