By Tom Hawthorn
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 25, 2008
A tough and fearless hockey player, Gilles Bilodeau created mayhem whenever he stepped onto the ice.
He
punched like a heavyweight and he wielded a hockey stick like a
woodman’s axe, tripping faster rivals and clubbing tough opponents.
Big, beefy hands rarely managed to push the puck into the net, but he was never employed for his scoring prowess.
An extensive rap sheet included a ridiculous number of fights and misconducts.
To
suit up against Mr. Bilodeau demanded a gut check. Early in his career
in his native Quebec, he earned such nicknames as Tarzan and Zombie.
When the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association promoted him
from the minors, the team unveiled him as Bad News Bilodeau, a fitting
nickname for a hockey enforcer.
In hockey’s lexicon, a goon can
also be known as a policeman, for it is his responsibility to protect
smaller, more skilled players by enforcing the sport’s Biblical code of
a slash for a slash, an elbow for an elbow.
Mr. Bilodeau played a central role in a notorious incident remembered today as the Thanksgiving Massacre.
On
another occasion, he could only be subdued after police sprayed him
with mace. When he appeared in court, a judge compared him to a bum.
As
is so often the case with tough guys, Mr. Bilodeau was a kind and
law-abiding presence as long as he was not wearing a hockey sweater.
He
was the third of nine children born to dairy farmers at St-Prime, Que.
Even in winter, his mother locked the door to the farmhouse, forcing
her rambunctious sons to either play in the barn, or skate on the
frozen ponds of their Saguenay farm.
As a young man, the
6-foot-1, 220-pound left winger played major junior hockey for the
Sorel Eperviers, a team whose fans, many of whom laboured in the
shipbuilding industry, preferred a robust style of play. Mr. Bioldeau’s
muscular presence was reflected in frequent appearances on the score
sheet, more often than not for time served in the penalty box.
In
1975, the Toros selected the hard-nosed player No. 122 overall in the
league’s amateur draft. The teams in the more established National
Hockey League did not draft him at all.
Mr. Bilodeau made his
professional debut with the minor league Beauce Jaros, based at
Saint-Georges, Que. His name quickly became synonymous with fighting in
the North American Hockey League, a circuit known for bench-clearing
brawls and mayhem both on and off the ice.
The team’s playing coach, Gypsy Joe Hardy, offered a gentlemanly presence on a team with more than a few scofflaws.
