Gilles Villemure

Gilles Villemure
Date of birth	May 30, 1940
place of birth	Trois-Rivières , Quebec , Canada
size	173 cm
Weight	77 kg
position	goalkeeper
Career stations
1958-1959	Troy Bruins
1959-1960	Guelph Biltmores
1960-1961	New York Rovers
1961–1962	Long Island Ducks
1962-1963	Vancouver Canucks
1963-1964	Baltimore Clippers
1964-1966	Vancouver Canucks
1966-1967	Baltimore Clippers
1967-1970	Buffalo bison
1970-1975	New York Rangers
1975-1977	Chicago Black Hawks

Gilles Villemure (born May 30, 1940 in Trois-Rivières , Québec ) is a former Canadian ice hockey goalkeeper who played for the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks in the National Hockey League from 1963 and 1977 .

Career

When he moved from junior to senior, only six teams played in the NHL. Usually there was a goalkeeper who played almost all of the games. So the chance of jumping into the NHL was slim. After two years with the New York Rovers and the Long Island Ducks in the EHL , he moved to the WHL to the Vancouver Canucks . In the 1963/64 season he played in the AHL with the Baltimore Clippers . Here he got the opportunity to represent the injured Jacques Plante in five games for the New York Rangers . In 1964 he returned to Vancouver. In 1966 he played again for the Baltimore Clippers. In the 1967/68 season the place of the second goalkeeper was free at Rangers after Cesare Maniago in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft had left the team. He got four missions as a replacement for Ed Giacomin . He often played in the AHL with the Buffalo Bisons .

His breakthrough in the NHL came in the 1970/71 season when the Rangers switched to a two-goalkeeper system. Now he shared the games with Giacomin. In the very first year they both won the Vezina Trophy . He played three times in a row in the NHL All-Star Game . In the 1974/75 season he had played more than half of the games for the first time.

The following year he joined the Chicago Black Hawks . Here stood with Tony Esposito a best goalkeeper this time in the gate. After 15 games in his first season, only six followed in the following. He ended his career in the summer of 1977 at the age of 37.

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Victory cut	Conceded goal	Shutouts
Regular season	10	205	0.488	2.81	13
Playoffs	6th	14th	0.357	2.93	0

Achievements and Awards

• WHL First All-Star Team: 1966
• WHL Second All-Star Team: 1963
• Rookie of the Year Award - WHL: 1963
• AHL First All-Star Team : 1969 and 1970
• AHL Second All-Star Team : 1967
• Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award : 1969 and 1970
• Les Cunningham Award : 1969 and 1970
• Calder Cup win with the Buffalo Bison : 1970
• Vezina Trophy : 1971 together with Ed Giacomin
• Participation in the NHL All-Star Game ; 1971, 1972 and 1973

Web links

• Gilles Villemure at hockeydb.com (English)
• Gilles Villemure at hockeygoalies.org
• Gilles Villemure at legendsofhockey.net (English)