Gilles Villemure

Joseph Hector Gilles Villemure (born May 30, 1940) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played for the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks in the 1960s and 1970s.

Personal life Villemure was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

During the off-season, Villemure was a professional harness racehorse driver. He now resides in Levittown, New York.

Playing career

Villemure played a season in the junior leagues with the Guelph Biltmores of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). He then spent ten years in the minor leagues, principally with the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League (WHL), the Baltimore Clippers and the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League (AHL). He was a star in the minors; in each of his final two seasons in the AHL, 1968–69 and 1969–70, he won the Les Cunningham Award with the Bisons as the league's most valuable player, leading all goaltenders in the playoffs the second year to backstop the Bisons to the Calder Cup in their final season. During his minor league career, he led his league in goals against average three times and in shutouts five times. During this time he was called up on several brief occasions by the New York Rangers, with whom he had signed in 1964.

The 1970–71 season saw Villemure called to the NHL for good as the Rangers' backup to Eddie Giacomin. Over the next three seasons, Villemure recorded a sparkling 66–27–10 mark, with ten shutouts and a goals-against average never higher than 2.30, and shared the Vezina Trophy with Giacomin in 1971. He played in the NHL All-Star Game all three seasons, allowing only a single goal and recording the lowest career GAA of any All-Star Game goaltender. The Rangers were a powerhouse at that time, finishing second in the league, and reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 1972, being the runners-up in both the regular season and playoffs to the Boston Bruins. Due to Giacomin injuring his knee in the semi-finals against the Chicago Black Hawks, Villemure played in Games Two, Five, and Six.

By the 1974–75 season, with both goaltenders aging, Villemure had become the number one goaltender in New York, but had only modest success, and was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks in the off-season. He backed up Tony Esposito and appeared in only 21 games in two years, and he retired after the 1976–77 season.

In 2009, the book 100 Ranger Greats ranked Villemure No. 48 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1958–59 Trois-Rivières Reds QJHL — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1958–59 Troy Bruins IHL 3 1 2 0 180 18 0 6.00 — — — — — — — — — 1959–60 Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters OHA 35 — — — 1980 128 1 3.66 — 5 — — 300 19 1 3.80 — 1960–61 New York Rovers EHL 51 16 34 1 3060 223 1 4.37 — — — — — — — — — 1961–62 Long Island Ducks EHL 65 25 39 1 3900 242 3 3.72 — — — — — — — — — 1961–62 Charlotte Checkers EHL 1 0 1 0 60 7 0 7.00 — — — — — — — — — 1961–62 Johnstown Jets EHL 1 1 0 0 60 2 0 2.00 — — — — — — — — — 1962–63 Vancouver Canucks WHL 70 35 31 4 4200 228 5 3.26 — 7 3 4 429 27 1 3.78 — 1963–64 Baltimore Clippers AHL 66 31 33 2 3960 192 3 2.91 — — — — — — — — — 1963–64 New York Rangers NHL 5 0 2 3 300 18 0 3.60 .899 — — — — — — — — 1964–65 Vancouver Canucks WHL 60 27 26 6 3676 212 2 3.46 — 5 1 4 309 17 0 3.30 — 1965–66 Vancouver Canucks WHL 69 32 34 3 4178 223 5 3.20 — 7 3 4 420 27 0 3.86 — 1966–67 Baltimore Clippers AHL 70 34 27 9 4180 238 4 3.42 — 9 4 5 569 39 0 4.11 — 1967–68 New York Rangers NHL 4 1 2 0 200 8 1 2.40 .934 — — — — — — — — 1967–68 Buffalo Bisons AHL 37 18 13 6 2160 89 3 2.47 — 5 1 3 247 15 0 3.64 — 1968–69 New York Rangers NHL 4 2 1 1 240 9 0 2.25 .921 1 0 1 60 4 0 4.00 .882 1968–69 Buffalo Bisons AHL 62 36 12 14 3674 148 6 2.42 — 6 2 4 360 19 1 3.17 — 1969–70 Buffalo Bisons AHL 65 — — — 3714 156 8 2.52 — 14 11 3 875 31 1 2.13 — 1970–71 New York Rangers NHL 34 22 8 4 2039 78 4 2.30 .919 2 0 1 80 6 0 4.50 .829 1971–72 New York Rangers NHL 37 24 7 4 2129 74 3 2.09 .913 6 4 2 360 14 0 2.33 .919 1972–73 New York Rangers NHL 34 20 12 2 2040 78 3 2.29 .910 2 0 1 61 2 0 1.67 .935 1973–74 New York Rangers NHL 21 7 7 3 1054 62 0 3.53 .880 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.00 1.000 1974–75 New York Rangers NHL 45 22 14 6 2470 130 2 3.16 .888 2 1 0 94 6 0 3.83 .854 1975–76 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 15 2 7 5 797 57 0 4.29 .859 — — — — — — — — 1976–77 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 6 0 4 1 312 28 0 5.38 .843 — — — — — — — — NHL totals 205 100 64 29 11,581 542 13 2.81 .899 14 5 5 656 32 0 2.93 .898

Awards and honors

Rookie of the Year in the WHL in 1963. Named to the WHL's First All-Star Team in 1966. Named to the AHL's Second All-Star Team in 1967. Won the Hap Holmes Memorial Award in 1969 and 1970. Won the Les Cunningham Award in 1969 and 1970. Named to the AHL First All-Star Team in 1969 and 1970. Calder Cup championship in 1970. Vezina Trophy winner in 1971 (shared with Eddie Giacomin). Named to play in the NHL All-Star Game in 1971, 1972 and 1973.