Gilles Gilbert dead at 74

[pedro1918]

As a kid, I have some vague memories of the real Big Bad Bruins, but the first thing I remember clearly was Gerry Cheevers jumping to the WHA and the new goalie was a guy whose name I butchered constantly. I thought Giles Gilbert was pretty cool and a pretty good goalie for awhile. I had a homemade Gilbert T-shirt that I wore while playing goalie in the street hockey games in my neighborhood. But Cheevers came back and there was that night at The Forum we still don’t talk about. He may have lost the game, but he was a beast that night. Damn it, Grapes.

Godspeed, Gilles Gilbert.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/08/06/sports/former-bruins-goaltender-gilles-gilbert-guy-lafleurs-victim-1979-dies-74/

 

[Ferm Sheller]

That's a tough one for me. He and Cheevers were the goalies when first started watching the Bs in the late 70s. I can still hear Fred Cusick exclaim, "Saaaave, Gilbert!"

 

[mwonow]

Yeah, that game...but in that series, Gilbert stood on his head. The Habs could (by playing one of the big 3 d on a wing) have taken a face off with only HoFers on the ice. But the series went to OT in game 7. Lots of folks were responsible for that, but nobody (imo) more than Gilly.

RIP, Mr Gilbert, you're already missed.

 

[rslm]

Hadn't heard this. I can't say exactly why, but he was my favorite athlete of all time. I always loved hockey goalies and old time goalie masks. Gilles Gilbert inspired me to want to be a goalie. I was actually able to make that wish a reality in high school. I never played in a varsity game, but I did play on the JV team and got to practice every day with the varsity team.

 

[Seonachan]

a guy whose name I butchered constantly

From the way the other kids on my street said it, I thought his name was JoJo Bear.

 

[ifmanis5]

When I was a kid I went to the Aquarium with my parents. It was very crowded and I briefly got lost. A security guard found me and asked for my name. I told them I was Gilles Gilbert. It was the first name that came to mind.

 

[nolasoxfan]

That's a tough one for me. He and Cheevers were the goalies when first started watching the Bs in the late 70s. I can still hear Fred Cusick exclaim, "Saaaave, Gilbert!"

^^ As kids, we said this every time somebody made an exceptional save in a floor hockey game. He remains one of my all time favorite Bruins.

 

[Bowhemian]

Loved him as a player. I remember watching games with my Dad on the little black and white TV, and my Dad had to explain how to pronounce his name. I just couldn't understand the silent "t". Anyway, he lived in my general neighborhood in Lynnfield. One day coming home from school in a snowstorm, the bus I was on slid down a small hill and wiped out his mailbox. He was on the Bruins only for another year or 2 after that. I never once saw him around the neighborhood. Or if I did, I didn't know it was him.

 

[gattman]

Echoing what everyone has said. I was a very young kid when he was the Bs goalie and I thought his name was “Jill Jill Bear”. So i asked my dad about it and he said that he was French Canadian. So for several years I thought Canadian parents gave their boys a pair of girls names.

And my first Bs memory is Cusick saying “Save, Gilbert. Save, Gilbert. Save, Gilbert!” He stood on his head in that series.