Gillies' death brings back memories of 'reluctant warrior' to O'Reilly

The rugged reputation of Clark Gillies was cemented in the 1980 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the New York Islanders power forward dropping his gloves four times in two Second Round games against Boston Bruins forward Terry O'Reilly, then once more against forward Al Secord.

"I knew Clark didn't want to deal with me and I didn't want to deal with him," O'Reilly joked Saturday. "But the nature of the game back then was, fights would break out.
"A player like Clark, and in a similar mold Boston's Cam Neely, was big, strong and talented with an ability to score goals. But because of the nature of the game back in that era, they had the responsibility of neutralizing big tough guys who had less talent -- me, for example. Players like Clark and Cam were forced into that role and they handled it with great leadership."
Gillies, who died of cancer at the age of 67 on Friday, is being mourned by family, friends, former teammates and opponents and many beyond the game.

Heartbroken, too, is his hometown of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, the prairie city of 34,000 that forever was a light in his life.
Usually, Gillies was one step ahead of the jokers who poked fun at the name of his birthplace 45 miles west of Regina.
"Where's Moose Jaw?" Gillies would often hear, to which he'd grin and reply, "Six feet from a moose's (behind)."
It was there that the future Islanders legend was the quarterback for his high school football team and played baseball so well that he was signed by the Houston Astros to play on their Appalachian League farm team in Covington, Virginia managed by Billy Smith -- not the future Islanders goalie.
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In his 958 games over 12 seasons with the Islanders and two more with the Buffalo Sabres, Gillies scored 697 points (319 goals, 378 assists), scoring 94 more (47 goals, 47 assists) in 164 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Retirement following the 1987-88 season wasn't an easy decision.

"I wasn't sure if I wanted to retire. My knee wasn't in very good shape when I finished," Gillies told author Brian McFalone in his 1997 book "Over the Glass and Into the Crowd! Life After Hockey."
"There were some tears in cruciate ligaments, and I didn't want to go through any major surgery. So I said to myself, 'Well, 14 years, four Stanley Cups and a whole list of accomplishments along the way. Why don't you just hang it up and look for something else to do?' "
The road was uneven to start. Gillies connected with various teams of old-timers, barnstorming across Canada and into the far north. Indeed, he felt so good that he began wishing, briefly, an NHL team might pick him up for a playoff run.
But the thought passed, and common sense took hold when his eyes glazed over one morning while watching daytime TV.
"I'm sitting there, riding a stationary bike, watching Sally Jesse Raphael at 10:30 in the morning while everyone else was out doing some sort of constructive work," he joked. "I said to myself, 'Boy, you'd better figure out what the heck you're going to do with the rest of your life.'

Gillies found his way into the world of finance, connecting with old friend Joe Duerr, the Islanders anthem singer for years who was in that business. He and Duerr eventually set up securities shops on Long Island and in Florida, giving him time for his beloved golf.
One of 17 Islanders who played on all four of their Stanley Cup championship teams, Gillies was voted most valuable player in the 1979 Challenge Cup against the Soviets, skating for Canada, and also represented his country in the 1981 Canada Cup tournament.
His No. 9 was retired twice in four years -- by the Islanders in 1996, then in 2000 by the major-junior Regina Pats, with whom he won the 1974 Memorial Cup in his last of four seasons with the team.
With fellow Saskatchewan native Bryan Trottier at center and Montreal-born Mike Bossy on left wing, Gillies was the Islanders wrecking-ball that perfectly complemented Trottier's silky playmaking and Bossy's lethal scoring touch.
He was in some ways like the legendary Gordie Howe, another Saskatchewan product, whose reputation for taking no prisoners and suffering no fools usually settled matters before gloves were ever dropped.

Gillies never fought by choice, but he understood the value of a clenched fist when liberties were taken with teammates. He scored at least 33 goals six times in 12 seasons with the Islanders but topped out at 99 penalty minutes in his roughest year.
Yet at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, he was expected to play a robust game.
"Freight trains don't drive like Volkswagens," teammate Bob Nystrom told him.
Gillies most famously showed his mettle during the 1980 playoffs against the Bruins. He scored in overtime in a 2-1 Game 1 victory in Boston before fighting O'Reilly twice in Game 2, then twice more in Game 3, then Secord in the Islanders' Game 5 clincher on the way to their first of four consecutive championships.
Major penalties -- 68 in 1,122 regular-season and playoff games - accounted for 340 of Gillies' 1,312 penalty minutes. But as physical a game as he played, he drew only four misconducts.
"Clarkie hated fighting lefties, he hated it, but he trained himself before that (Boston) series to fight lefty because O'Reilly was lefty," recalled Islanders forward Bob Bourne, a native of Kindersley, Saskatchewan.
"(Gillies) scored the overtime winner the first game, I scored the overtime winner the second game. I think my favorite memory was flying home to New York from Boston that night, and we couldn't be happier. Here's two Saskatchewan boys sitting there together, and we both scored overtime goals."

Clark Gillies (left) with New York Islanders linemates Bryan Trottier (center) and Mike Bossy during the 1979-80 season.
The first game was almost a church picnic, 16 penalty minutes called. But there were fireworks in Game 2, referee Dave Newell calling 254 minutes - 128 to the Islanders, 126 to the Bruins.
"I call it the marble theory," O'Reilly said with a laugh. "Back then, the referee would start out with a dozen black marbles in one pocket and a dozen white marbles in the other pocket. A penalty against the home team, he'd throw away a white marble. A penalty on the visitor, he'd throw away a black marble. By early in the third period, he'd lost all his marbles."
O'Reilly chuckled about his rumbles with Gillies and recalled the physical battles even with their gloves on.
"I remember the puck going into the corner, both of us racing for it, we sort of came together like two rams, shoulder to shoulder, trying to knock each other out of position for the puck," he said. "I went down and hit my face on the ice. There was nothing dirty about it, it was competing for position and I lost the battle. It wasn't just fighting Clark, it was playing against a big, strong man with a very balanced set of hockey skills."

Clark Gillies cheers on the Islanders on June 23, 2021, the last game at the team's Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
O'Reilly gained a new insight into Gillies when in 2002 he was named an assistant of the New York Rangers, under coach Bryan Trottier.
"I got to know Clark through Bryan's eyes in New York, hearing many stories about the 1980s Islanders," he said. "I'd always admired and respected Clark, even more so after getting to know him through Bryan."
It was on June 19, 2002, 14 years after his final NHL game, that Gilles was on a flight home to Moose Jaw with his wife, Pam, and their three daughters for the 80th birthday celebration of his mother. He phoned his office during a layover and was told he had an urgent message to call a Toronto number.
"That's when I was told I'd been elected to the Hall of Fame," Gillies recalled during his Hall of Fame induction ceremony. "I sat there and my eyes filled with tears. There was a guy sitting nearby who turned to a friend and said, 'Man, that guy must have had some bad news.'
"Even my wife was concerned until I told her, 'They're tears of joy.' "
Gillies was given a hero's welcome when he touched down in Moose Jaw, larger than life as he had been growing up and as he remains to this day.
O'Reilly remembers a great competitor whom he calls "a reluctant warrior," a player who never gave nor asked for an inch.
"You could just hate Clark, get all psyched up to compete against him," he said. "But when you're sitting there thinking about the game, you're secretly wishing that a guy like that was on your wing instead of opposite you."
Photos:Lewis Portnoy, Paul Bereswill, Troy Parla, Hockey Hall of Fame; Bruce Bennett, Getty Images