By Jeff D'Andrea

Home, heart and hockey; Gilmour opens up in new book

Oct 29, 2017 | 6:07 PM

A rosary tattoo sticks out of Doug Gilmour’s sleeve on his right wrist, a tribute his late mother Dolly who passed away on Oct. 7.

She was diagnosed with dementia three years ago, just two years after Gilmour’s father Don passed away.

That’s what motivated Gilmour to write his first book, Killer: My Life in Hockey. Gilmour arrived in Prince Albert on Saturday in part for his book tour and was the guest speaker at the 2017 Kinsmen- Sportsperson of the Year Banquet.

“I got asked every year to write one and I said no. I hate hindsight, but at the same time, my dad passed away five years ago. Two years later, my mom was diagnosed with dementia. That’s when I got interested to do something for them,” Gilmour said. “It would have been nice to get some quotes from them, but that’s why I did it.”

Gilmour even altered his career to make sure he was close to his parents. After taking an assistant coaching position with the Toronto Marlies in the 2008-09 season, the American Hockey League affiliate of his former Toronto Maple Leafs club, Gilmour left partway through the season to move back home to Kingston.  

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“All I can say about that is I’m glad I went home. I spent a good five good years with my dad before he passed away,” Gilmour said. “You can say bad things about it, like maybe he’s in the American League, now the next step is head coach in the American League and then go, but no. This is a move I’ll never regret.”

He’s been with the Frontenacs since the 2008-2009 season as a head coach, general manager and team president. He gave up the general manager duties this year for the book tour, but still remains as president.

On his nickname and its similarity to P.A.’s Dave Manson

“It was Brian Sutter, he was my roommate. Brian’s the only one that called me ‘Charlie,’ everybody else called me ‘Killer,’ but it started with ‘Charlie.’ I was 152 pounds playing in the NHL, I had a mullet and after games, my eyes would be black or whatever. So he called me ‘Charlie’ after Charlie Manson.”

Oddly enough, Prince Albert is home to another ex-NHL’er who had a similar nickname. Dave Manson, whose jersey is retired at the Art Hauser Centre, earned the named ‘Charlie’ for his tough play.

“I hated playing against Dave. He was gritty, he was mean. The nice thing is, he could say something to you and you can’t hear him,” laughed Gilmour. “I played with him in Chicago. He’s a really great guy, but a tough competitor, man.”

Playing as an undersized forward in a big man’s game

“I had my helmet on, my equipment on, I didn’t think I was small. That’s how I played. I know people looked at me and said ‘you’re small.’ The media, some other NHL teams didn’t want me because I was too small—thank you for saying that, because I was driven now. That made me more of a competitor. Again, I give Brian Sutter a lot of credit. He taught me how to compete, he taught me how to be intense.”

Master of disguise

“There’d be thousands of people outside the building trying to get in, so I asked myself ‘how the hell am I going to get in?’ I had a jersey in the house, put a ball hat on, put on sunglasses. I went in and stood in line with some people. Made a quick cut to where we go in and the rink guy says you can’t come in here. I took my glasses off and he said ‘oh, ok.’ Guys were an hour late saying ‘how’d you get in here?’ ‘Ah, don’t worry about it.’”

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW