Gilbert Perreault
Gilbert " Gil " Perreault ( born November 13, 1950 in Victoriaville, Quebec ) is a retired Canadian ice hockey player ( center ), who stood in 17 seasons for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League on the ice. His great strength was his bat - handling in a confined space, which makes it one of the most skilful playmaker history of ice hockey.
Career
1969 and 1970 was Perreault Montreal Junior Canadiens players who consecutively won the Memorial Cup twice, and thereby caused a rule change. Before it was all junior teams in Canada you can to fight the Memorial Cup, but the Junior Canadiens dominated a team from Prince Edward Iceland in the playoffs so that the youth league was divided into Major and Minor Junior Junior A.
1970, two new franchises were added to the NHL - Buffalo and the Vancouver Canucks. Buffalo got the right ( by winning at roulette with the number 11 ), the first draft pick in the NHL Amateur Draft select 1970. In previous years, always had the Montréal Canadiens, the prerogative of the Draft of junior players from Quebec. Buffalo chose Perreault from in the first place.
Perreault, who wore the number 11 in memory of the roulette Draft, quickly became a star and was the top scorer of the Sabres - this feat he repeated in every season in which he not missed through injury games - and won in his first season also the Calder Memorial Trophy as the best rookie of the season. He played most of his career in a series with René Robert (right winger ) and Rick Martin on the left wing - this formation was "The French Connection " and was named one of the most famous offensive formations of the 70s.
In 1972 he was part of Team Canada, but was only used in games 4 and 5 against the Soviet Union in the Summit Series in 1972 and left the team, therefore, before the series ended. In 1976, the first tournament for the Canada Cup was held in Canada and brought probably the best Canadian hockey team in history out. Perreault played together in a team with superstars like Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne. Lafleur, Dionne and Perreault often played together in a row, forming a spectacular offensive formation.
Canada won the trophy in the final against Czechoslovakia. While the Canada Cup 1981, he played with Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur in a row and showed the best hockey of his career. He had to leave the tournament prematurely with a broken ankle, but already had collected 9 points in four games so far. Without it, the Team Canada lost the final against the team of the Soviet Union 8-1.
Over the 1981/82 season he broke through as the 16th player the 1,000 point limit.
Resignation
Perreault retired at the end of the 1986 season from the professional sports back. A short time later, the pension entitlements of former NHL players were significantly increased, but the rule should apply only to players who had completed at least 20 games in the 1986/87 season. Therefore, Gilbert decided to go again for the Sabres on the ice. He still played just 20 games for Buffalo, where he could add another 9 goals his statistics and stepped thereafter permanently from active professional sports back.
At the time of his resignation Perreault was the sixth - best scorer in NHL history and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.
After his time as an active player Perreault has remained true to the sport in which he coached youth teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
NHL stats
Awards
- Red Tilson Trophy: 1970
- Second All-Star Team: 1976 and 1977
- Calder Memorial Trophy: 1970
- Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: 1973