Bob Boucher, the former longtime hockey coach and current athletic director at St. Dominic Regional High School, suffered a massive heart attack while on vacation in Florida last week and is currently in grave condition.

Boucher, 55, of Lewiston has been on life support since suffering the heart attack Saturday. He returned to Maine on Wednesday.

“I have heard that he is home, but the next phase is a guessing game,” said St. Dom’s Principal Don Fournier.

Fournier informed the students Monday morning of Boucher’s condition.

“We told them that he had fallen ill and that he was in the hospital,” Fournier said. “(Wednesday) at our Mass, we prayed for him there.”

Boucher’s health has declined in recent years because of a degenerative disorder, but this came as a shock to the school and the hockey community.

“We just gave him a lifetime award for all his contributions for 25 years at the Class A banquet back in March,” said Scott Rousseau, one of Boucher’s former players and the current hockey coach at Falmouth. “He seemed really in good spirits. He seemed well. You just didn’t see it coming.”

Boucher coached the varsity hockey team for 25 years, winning five state titles before stepping down after the 2004-05 season. Besides the recent lifetime achievement award from the Class A Coaches Association, he earned three coach of the year awards from his peers. The athletic director at St. Dom’s since 1980, Boucher was inducted into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame last April. He also coached the St. Dom’s boys’ soccer team for 16 years and won three state titles.

Though he had stepped away from coaching, his presence is still felt in the hockey community.

“A lot of us came to grips that Bobby didn’t coach anymore, but it was comforting to see him at the rinks and still see him get pleasure from being there,” said Rousseau, who watched last winter’s semifinal game between Bangor and Lewiston with Boucher. “He didn’t drive the bus anymore, but he was still there. It wasn’t just for St. Dom’s games. It was any playoff game. He was there when we played Scarborough, and his presence was always noted.”

Lee Hixon, the school’s dean of students and boys’ soccer coach, has assumed the athletic director duties for the time being.

“He’s our dean of students and he has been an AD before,” Fournier said. “So he’s taken over at least temporarily. He jumped in and is a real good organizer and is a real good thinker. He’s level-headed and just what we needed.”

The Auburn school lost beloved Principal Michael Welch last September after a lengthy bout with cancer. A walkway at Gracelawn Memorial Park in Auburn was dedicated in honor of Welch on Wednesday. More than 200 students were in attendance, and a prayer was said on Boucher’s behalf.

“I haven’t known (Boucher) for long, but I just respect him so much,” said Fournier, who was named Welch’s successor last October. “We’re just doing what we can to keep things going.”

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