(CNN)Clark Gillies, a Hockey Hall of Fame power forward and four-time Stanley Cup winner with the ny Islanders, died Fri, in step with the National league. He was 67. No explanation for death was given.
“The National league mourns the passing of Clark Gillies, a tower of strength on the ice for the dynastic ny Islanders of the first 1980s and a pillar of the Long Island community ever since,” NHL commissioner city Bettman aforesaid.
“Gillies helped outline the term ‘power forward’ throughout a 14-season, Hall of Fame career with the Islanders and Buffalo Sabres that was highlighted by winning four straight Stanley Cups with the Islanders.”
The Canadian province native was chosen fourth overall by the Islanders within the 1974 NHL draft. With the Islanders, he scored 304 goals and had 359 assists in 872 games over twelve seasons.
In 159 contest games with the Islanders, Gillies collected forty seven goals and forty six assists. one among seventeen Islanders that won four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983, Gillies was a member of the cluster that won a league record nineteen straight contest series — a record that also stands.
Clark Gillies was honored in Dec 2014 before an the Islanders game at Nassau Veterans Memorial amphitheater in Uniondale, New York.
Clark Gillies was honored in Dec 2014 before an the Islanders game at Nassau Veterans Memorial coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
The left jock was on one among the decade’s most victorious forward lines, nicknamed the “Trio Grande,” with two fellow future Hockey Hall of Famers, center Bryan Trottier and right jock electro-acoustic transducer dominating. That line conjointly light-emitting diode Team canada to a runner-up finish at the 1981 canada Cup.
“The entire Islanders community is devastated by the loss of Clark Gillies,” Islanders President and chief Lou Lamoriello said. “He epitomized what it suggests that to be a new York island-dweller. The pride he felt carrying the Islanders sweater on the ice was evident by his disposition to try and do something to win. Off the ice, he was even as massive of a presence, continuously taking the time to present back to the area people.
“The ny Islanders have four Stanley Cups thanks to the sacrifices he and therefore the members of these phratry groups created for the franchise. On behalf of the whole organization, we tend to send our deepest condolences to the whole Gillies family.”
After the Islanders’ 4-0 home ending against the Arizona Coyotes on Fri, head coach Barry Trotz aforesaid that the forward are uncomprehensible.
“He was larger than life,” Trotz aforesaid. “When you saw Clark Gillies, you thought island-dweller. I mean there was little question. There was no area. attractive. He vie the correct way; he was a part of the community.
“Everything that you just accept Associate in Nursing island-dweller, being a decent associate, an incredible person, all those things. My heart born after I was told returning off the ice. He are uncomprehensible, you know, he extremely can.”
New York retired Gillies’ variety nine jersey on Dec seven, 1996.
In 2002, Gillies was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His bio page there reads: “He was a relentless rival United Nations agency was just about unstoppable once the opposing team raised his ire.”
Gillies would end his career with 319 goals and 378 assists within the regular season, once taking part in 2 seasons with the Sabres. Gillies created The Clark Gillies Foundation, a non-profit-making corporation that assists physically, developmentally, and/or financially challenged youngsters. The goal, in step with the organization’s web site, “is to assist youngsters improve the standard of life and be of help in an exceedingly time of crisis.”
The Huntington Hospital medical specialty emergency unit on Long Island has been named once Gillies and his foundation.
