Jim Henry's name never sounds complete unless he's referred to as "Sugar" Jim. As a toddler growing up in Winnipeg, he used to waddle next door to visit some girls. "They'd dip my soother in a sugar bowl," he recalled, "So the girls gave me the name 'Sugar'. Then I couldn't get rid of it!"
Henry soon replaced his soother with goal pads and a glove, progressing from the Brandon Elks of the MJHL to the Regina Rangers of the SJHL. As a top-line backstopper, Henry caught the attention of the New York Rangers GM, Frank Boucher. Boucher needed a replacement for his old mainstay, Davie Kerr. Henry was brought east to Broadway in 1941 where he impressed Ranger fans and management winning 29 games and helping the club to secure a first-place finish.
But the outbreak of World War II immediately eclipsed Henry's big-league momentum as military service took precedence for the following 3 seasons. Upon his return to the NHL in 1945, Henry appeared rusty and without the edge that had defined his initial arrival in New York. The next two campaigns brought stints with New Haven of the AHL. By 1947, he returned to regular NHL duties, but finished below .500, first with the Rangers and then with the Blackhawks.
A two-year stint in the USHL and the AHL, however, revived Henry's edge. The Bruins picked him up in 1951, and he delivered some of the most exciting moments of his career, leading the Bruins to the finals in 1953 where they lost to the powerhouse Canadiens four games to one.
By the mid-1950s, however, Henry had grown tired of life on the road with his family in tow. So he retired from the NHL, picking up only the odd assignment in Canada until 1960.
On January 22, 2004 "Sugar" Jim Henry passed away in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the age of 83.
