Passionate Warrior -- Doug Gilmour

Doug Gilmour Night

I’m excited!  Doug Gilmour Night is approaching!  This Saturday, January 31, 2009, my favourite hockey player is to be honoured at the Air Canada Center in Toronto.

You may wonder what this has to do with golf.  On the surface, it has nothing to do with golf.  But perhaps when we look at what makes Killer (as Doug is known) my favourite hockey player we can see the relationship.  Or perhaps I’m just getting a plug in for my second favourite sport 8=)  We’ll have to read on to find out.

This Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be honouring Doug by raising his jersey number, #93, to the rafters of the Air Canada Center.  Up there it will enjoy the company of some amazing legends of sport — some of whom I only know from the history books and some that I grew up watching on Saturday nights.

Passion

The one word that comes to mind when I remember Killer on the ice is passion.  Every game, every minute, on or off the ice Dougie was giving his all.  He was awarded the Selke Trophy for the best defensive forward.  He worked hard defensively and offensively.  He was tough, fast and had all the great skills that make hockey exciting.  On top of this he is a really class act and a charismatic leader.

Doug spent 20 years playing in the NHL for 7 different teams.  For 5 of those years he played for Toronto and inspired thousands of fans, like me.  Watching his play in the 1992 playoffs rekindled my love for hockey after almost a decade of disgust with the dirtiness of hockey in the late 70’s and 80’s.  Don’t get me wrong, I like tough and rough hockey and even enjoy a good fight once in a while, but I didn’t like the fact that the most important stat a player could have during those times was penalty minutes.

Watching Killer reminded me why I loved hockey as a kid.    He was tough and he stood up for his teammates.  He had great speed and puck handling skills.  He left it all out on the ice.  Watching him lead his team at both ends of the ice made me proud to be a hockey fan again.

I have a Maple Leafs jersey with Dougie’s name and number on the back.  I’m proud to wear it because of the man.  I even wore it in a golf tournament once (I didn’t need to tie the fighting strap though — this is golf after all).

Doug was traded in 1997 and came back to Toronto for a short period in 2003 when his career was ended with an injury.  He is now a coach for the Kingston Frontenacs back in his home town and I’m sure that he will someday be a coach in the NHL.  I’m looking forward to that day.

Golf

Doug Gilmour -- A Class Act

Dougie is a little unusual in that his charity tournaments in the past have revolved around bowling rather than golf.  I have forgiven him for this simply because he is Dougie (plus he has a good reason — there are lots of hockey players with golf tournaments and he wanted to do something different).  I don’t know how well he plays golf but someday I’d like to play a round with him (and maybe Wendel and Kirk too) but the reason I’m posting about him in my golf blog is that I want to play golf with the same passion and dedication that he has for hockey.

As I think about golf through this especially snowy winter, I want to prepare my mental game for the upcoming golf season and get into better physical condition too.  When this snow melts I want to be ready for the best season of golf that I’ve ever had.

I want to put my all into each round that I play.  I want to make every aspect of my golf game the best that it can be.  I want to leave it all on the links.  I want to be Killer.

Saturday Night

I still wear my #93 Maple Leafs jersey — and will be wearing it with pride and tears on Saturday night.  I wish Doug was still playing and I know that hockey fans around the world wish that too.  We miss you Killer!