Tales from the New York Rangers Locker Room by Gilles Villemure

Author:Gilles Villemure
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Rod Gilbert and I played junior hockey together in Guelph, Ontario. (New York Rangers)

“In those years they didn’t believe in the two-goalie system. A lot of the teams only had one goalie who was so superior to the other one—they wouldn’t spend the money to secure a second-string goalie. Our team, having Eddie Giacomin, Emile Francis’s protege because he had given seven players to acquire him, it was very difficult for Gilles to break in here. Had he been with another team, I think Gilles would have been a superstar, because I think he was equal to Giacomin in ability to stop the puck. But Eddie was here, Eddie was flamboyant, and he could handle the puck like another defenseman out there and made it to the Hall of Fame, and he could display his ability because he was playing the majority of the games. But if Gilles had played as many games as Eddie, he would have been as successful, for sure—so you could see the combo of the two of them playing for us, the one year we were invincible with those two guys.

“Gilles was a very sound, cool goaltender—he didn’t get excited. The position of goaltending probably requires more than any other position as far as not being jumpy, because you make a wrong move and the puck is behind you. Gilles was settled all the time, played his angles, and was a student of the game. He was the hardest for me to score against in practice. We used to have these bets, and I’ll tell you what, he beat me a lot.”

On the change from losers to winners:

“It was basically Emile Francis’s doing by transforming the team into a younger team. I was really sad when I got here, and I got to play three years with Andy Bathgate, when they traded him to Toronto along with Don McKenney. I was kind of apprehensive about that. He was my mentor; I was learning a lot from him, and I guess Emile Francis decided it was time to rebuild the team, and he got Rod Seiling and Arnie Brown and Bobby Nevin and Bill Collins, young players. They came here, and I think it was the beginning of the ascension.

“Getting Gilles to come up here with Eddie Giacomin was another major move. Then, of course, we had two of the best players who played for the Rangers. Brad Park, who went to the Hall of Fame, was on defense, and he was rated not far behind Bobby Orr, and then you had Walter Tkaczuk. And then Emile complemented the team with Pete Stemkowski and Teddy Irvine, Bruce MacGregor, and Davey Balon. I think we jelled quite well together. He kept the team as a group for a number of years. We all had the same common goal, and it was fun.

“Why we didn’t win? There’s only one team that wins at the end, and the reason we couldn’t beat Boston in 1972 was mainly because of Bobby Orr.

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