Gilles Villemure - Tales from the New York Rangers Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Rangers Stories Ever Told

Copyright 2002, 2016 by Gilles Villemure and Mike Shalin

Preface 2016 by Gilles Villemure and Mike Shalin

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Villemure, Gilles, 1940- | Shalin, Mike, 1954

Title: Tales from the New York Rangers locker room : a collection of the greatest Rangers stories ever told / [by Gilles Villemure and Mike Shalin; foreword by Ed Giacomin]

Other titles: Gilles Villemures tales from the Ranger locker room

Description: New York : [Champaign, Ill.], [2016]

Identifiers: LCCN 2016005997| ISBN 9781613219034 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781613219065 (Ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: New York Rangers (Hockey team)--History. | New York Rangers (Hockey team)--Anecdotes. | Villemure, Gilles, 1940

Classification: LCC GV848.N43 V55 2016 | DDC 796.962/64097471--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016005997

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit AP Images

ISBN: 978-1-61321-903-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61321-906-5

Printed in the United States of America

For my mom and dad, who supported and followed me from the first day I played hockey, and to my wife and childrenI love you all!

G.V.

For Mary and my sons, Joshua, Taylor, and Mackenzie

M.S.

For all the heroes of September 11we will NEVER forget!

Contents

Foreword

by Ed Giacomin

Gilles Villemure is probably the most honest individual Ive ever been associated with.

The mans word was his bond. Ive valued that quite a bit because weve had very many different dealings, and hes always come through a hundred percent. I knew him a long time before we actually played in the National Hockey League together. Hes just one fine individual.

Hockey was his love. Horse racing was his passionbut when he got to the game he was all business.

It took Gilles a long time to make it to the NHL, but like myself, coming from Canada and living hockey your whole life, you didnt want to be a failure. He wanted to be a very successful story, and by sticking it out, eventually it paid off for him just like it paid off for me.

The hardest thing for both myself and for Gilles when we got to the Rangers is that both of us wanted to play. But I was more open and more critical about it because I always said that I should be playing. Thats me, and if I didnt say that I have no business being in sports. Gilles was the type of a person who wanted to play but could accept not playing, which I found was a little bit different. When he did play, he gave you 100 percent and he always performed very, very well. I admired him so much because I found it very hard thinking: how can he play like that and play so well while not playing as much?

He was a unique character, and thats why we became such a good team. He probably resented the fact that I played so much, but he was able to accept it, and the greatest thing is when we won the Vezina Trophy together.

I never asked him if he wanted to go somewhere where he could play every day. That never crossed our minds. I know it never crossed my mind. I just felt that he accepted that role and he was able to perform so well in it. He had a passion for horses, so that was kind of an out for himso if he knew I was playing Wednesday night, he could go out Tuesday night and go to the track. That was unique. It was different, and if anything should have happened to me, he was always ready.

You have to be a special person to be able to take on that kind of a role and not be bitter about ithe always had an open mind, he was always flamboyant, and he was always very happy. Whatever the team did, he was always 100 percent for it.

Ed Giacomin, June 2002

Preface

So much has happened to the Rangers and the game I love since we first wrote this book.

After all, it has been over a decade.

The biggest change regarding the Rangers is that there is now another new Garden. Well, it is actually the same building sitting proudly between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, but it is only the same on the outside.

For a hockey player who started his NHL career in the old place up on 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, which was primitive by todays standards, what theyve done with todays Madison Square Garden is amazing.

When asked for one word about the renovated Garden, I just say, Outstanding.

The seats are great. The view is wonderful from anywhere. There are beautiful suites all over the rink and we get to see them when we visit our sponsors. Its just gorgeous. Its night and day from what it used to be.

It seems the lighting on the ice is better and they have fixed the problems with the ice. Its cooler in the building, which has to help the ice; you need a sweater when youre sitting there.

The scoreboard is hugevery impressive. The suites are beautiful; its hard to believe when you see it. The lobby is beautiful. Youve got more room on the concourses. They did a hell of a job.

They put a lot of money into the place, and it was money well spent. Its hard to describe how beautiful it is to anyone who hasnt been there. If youre a Rangers fan and you havent seen the place, add it to your bucket list.

Our Game

We suffered through a lockout that killed the 200405 season and took the spirit out of hockey fans everywhere, but the game is back and more popular than ever. Hockey is a wonderful game, and the players playing it today are so talented.

Hockey was always popular, but its even more popular now. There are a lot of contributing factors, but one big thing is that the game is everywhere now. There are franchises thriving in places you never connected with hockey. And around the world? Players are coming from everywhere now, whereas in the past players used to come mostly from Canada because thats what we did; we went outside and skated all day. We had outdoor rinks and it was 30, 40 below and we just skated.

Now, it seems like every country has adopted hockey. Look at the excitement generated by the Olympics, where the teams from small countries have been scaring the traditional powers.

College hockey is also more popular and played by more colleges than ever.

The game today also gets faster all the time. The players are bigger, while the rinks are the same size; thus, the game is now so much tougher to play. There is no room and you have to do everything faster. You dont have the timeyou get the puck and you have to get rid of it right away. They used to carry the puck more in my day, but now they have to dump it in and go after it quickly.

Another change is that in the past, a defenseman used to be able to grab on to a player coming at him and get away with it. Now, if you do anything its a penalty. The skill guys have more room because they cant be grabbed, but they run out of room quickly; you just have to think and make the right move.