Rod Gilbert

Rod Gilbert
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1982
Born (1941-07-01) July 1, 1941
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Right
Played for New York Rangers
National team  Canada
Playing career 1960–1978
Website http://www.rodgilbert.com

Rodrigue Gabriel Gilbert (born July 1, 1941) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey forward who played for the New York Rangers in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played right wing on the GAG line (i.e. Goal-a-Game Line) Linewith Vic Hadfield and Jean Ratelle. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982, and was the first player in New York Rangers history to have his number retired. Gilbert currently works for the New York Rangers organization.

Playing career

Born in Montreal, Gilbert grew up a fan of the Montreal Canadiens.[1] While playing junior hockey for the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the OHA in 1960, Gilbert slipped on some garbage strewn on the ice and fell back into the boards, breaking a vertebra in his back and temporarily paralyzing him.[2][3] Corrective surgery went awry and led to hemorrhaging in his leg, and doctors feared amputation would be necessary, but Gilbert recovered.[4]

After finishing his junior career with the Guelph Royals, Gilbert joined the Rangers near the end of the 1960–61 NHL season. He soon became popular with the Rangers' fans, and he rose in prominence as an NHL star. However, it was not without pain. In 1965–66, his career was nearly derailed when he went through a second spinal fusion operation.[5] This surgery was performed by Dr. Kazuo Yanagisawa. Gilbert was out of action for half a season, but he bounced back in 1966–67 and scored 28 goals.[4] On February 24, 1968, he scored four goals in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Ratelle-Hadfield-Gilbert line, called the GAG line, proved formidable for years.[4] He played with Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. He won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1976 for his perseverance over his back troubles.[6]

At the beginning of the 1977–78 NHL season, Gilbert and Rangers' General Manager John Ferguson got into a contract dispute.[4] When Gilbert finally returned to play, he was no longer the Gilbert of old, and retired after 19 seasons, having never won the Stanley Cup. His number 7 was retired by the Rangers on October 14, 1979, the first number to be retired by the team.[7] In 1969 he owned his first restaurant. After his playing career was over, he opened his own restaurant 'Gilbert's' on Third Avenue near 75th street in Manhattan. As of 2017, Gilbert makes upwards of 30 appearances a year on behalf of the Garden of Dreams Foundation, an outreach program that works with children in the community.[1]

Personal life

Gilbert married Judith Christy in 1991, in a ceremony conducted by New York mayor David Dinkins.[8] Gilbert is one of ten athletes who were featured in American artist Andy Warhol's 1979 Athlete Series of paintings, which featured prominent sports figures from the 1970s. Others in the series include O.J. Simpson, Chris Evert and Pelé.[9]

Awards and honors

Records

  • New York Rangers team record for career goals (406)
  • New York Rangers team record for career points (1021)
  • New York Rangers team record for games played by a forward (1065)
  • Shares New York Rangers team record for assists in one game (5 three times)

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1957–58 Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters OHA-Jr. 32 14 16 30 0 — — — — —
1958–59 Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters OHA-Jr. 54 27 34 61 40 — — — — —
1959–60 Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters OHA-Jr. 47 39 52 91 0 — — — — —
1959–60 Trois-Rivières Lions EPHL 3 4 6 10 0 5 2 2 4 2
1960–61 Guelph Royals OHA-Jr. 47 54 49 103 0 — — — — —
1960–61 New York Rangers NHL 1 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1961–62 New York Rangers NHL 1 0 0 0 0 4 2 3 5 4
1961–62 Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers EPHL 21 12 11 23 22 4 0 0 0 4
1962–63 New York Rangers NHL 70 11 20 31 20 — — — — —
1963–64 New York Rangers NHL 70 24 40 64 62 — — — — —
1964–65 New York Rangers NHL 70 25 36 61 52 — — — — —
1965–66 New York Rangers NHL 34 10 15 25 20 — — — — —
1966–67 New York Rangers NHL 64 28 18 46 12 4 2 2 4 6
1967–68 New York Rangers NHL 73 29 48 77 12 6 5 0 5 4
1968–69 New York Rangers NHL 66 28 49 77 22 4 1 0 1 2
1969–70 New York Rangers NHL 72 16 37 53 22 6 4 5 9 0
1970–71 New York Rangers NHL 78 30 31 61 65 13 4 6 10 8
1971–72 New York Rangers NHL 73 43 54 97 64 16 7 8 15 11
1972–73 New York Rangers NHL 76 25 59 84 25 10 5 1 6 2
1973–74 New York Rangers NHL 75 36 41 77 20 13 3 5 8 4
1974–75 New York Rangers NHL 76 36 61 97 22 3 1 3 4 2
1975–76 New York Rangers NHL 70 36 50 86 32 — — — — —
1976–77 New York Rangers NHL 77 27 48 75 50 — — — — —
1977–78 New York Rangers NHL 19 2 7 9 6 — — — — —
NHL totals 1065 406 615 1021 508 79 34 33 67 43

International

Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1972 Canada SS 6 1 3 4 9
1977 Canada WC 9 2 2 4 12
Senior totals 15 3 5 8 21

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kreda, Allan (2 April 2017). "One Team, 406 Goals, a Million Stories: Mr. Ranger Is Still Making Fans". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Tarzan the clown turns 85 | GuelphMercury.com". GuelphMercury.com. Guelph Mercury. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Malinowski, Mark (25 September 2011). "Rod Gilbert | The Hockey News". The Hockey News. The Hockey News. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Fischler, Stan (2015). New York Rangers: Greatest Moments and Players. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. p. 37. ISBN 9781613218259. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Kreiser & Friedman. The New York Rangers: Broadway's Longest Running Hit. Sports Publishing LLC, 1996
  6. ↑ "Silverware -- 1975-76 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy Winner -- Gilbert, Rod -- Legends of Hockey". www.hhof.com. Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Price, Bill (13 January 2006). "HADFIELD NUMBERS AMONG MESS FANS". NY Daily News. NY Daily News. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Kennedy, Kostya (20 April 1998). "Rod Gilbert, New York Rangers right wing January 30, 1967". SI.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  9. ↑ "Andy Warhol (1928-1987) , The Complete Athletes Series". www.christies.com. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  • Total Hockey (Second Edition), Editor - Dan Diamond, ISBN 1-892129-85-X
  • Hockey Stars of 1969 by Stan Fischler
  • Hockey '75 by Hal Bock
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