OHL North Bay Battalion

Troops Preparing For Doug Gilmour And The Frontenacs

Published on March 17, 2010 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


BRAMPTON, Ont. - Jamie Allison can see Doug Gilmour's fingerprints all over the resurgent Kingston Frontenacs.

Gilmour left an assistant coaching job with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League to become head coach of the Frontenacs on Nov. 17, 2008. A Kingston native, Gilmour guided the Frontenacs to 13 wins over their final 45 games of the 2008-09 Ontario Hockey League season.

Kingston missed the playoffs then but has rebounded to post a won-lost-extended record of 33-30-5 for 71 points this season, second in the East Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Frontenacs, in the playoffs for the first time since 2006-07, meet the fifth-place Brampton Battalion in a best-of-seven conference quarterfinal starting at Kingston at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

"They've come a long way from last season," said Allison, in his third campaign as a Battalion assistant coach. "You can see that team has the work ethic and plays with the same kind of emotion that Doug played with. As a young player, you know his reputation as a gritty, tough guy who played hard every game. I imagine he's telling the guys they have to play hard every shift, and I think they play that way."

Allison was familiar with how Gilmour played, as both an opponent and teammate. A defenceman with five teams over 11 National Hockey League seasons, Allison played with Gilmour for two years, starting in 1998-99, with the Chicago Blackhawks.

A native of Lindsay, Ont., Allison was 23 when he was acquired by the Blackhawks from the Calgary Flames on Oct. 27, 1998. Gilmour, 35 at the time and in his first season in Chicago, was well into a career that saw him play 20 NHL seasons with seven teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, with whom he became one of the most popular players in club history.

Gilmour, who retired after the 2002-03 season, played 1,474 games, recording 450 goals and 964 assists for 1,414 points, 17th on the NHL's all-time list.

"Growing up in the Toronto area, you knew what a big deal Doug was here. There were a lot of great players in Chicago at that time, like Gilmour and Paul Coffey."

Allison said he found Gilmour very approachable.

"You are a bit in awe at first, but I quickly found out that he's like a little kid, and he's still that way to this day. He didn't make anyone feel like they were beneath him, and he was a great teammate. You could talk to him at any time. Guys would listen to him if he had something to say."

Allison said Gilmour had the respect of teammates and opponents alike.

"He's known for the way he played the game. He wasn't a big guy and probably never weighed more than 180 pounds when he played. I respected guys like him who played the game hard. I hated playing against guys like him because he was a pest out there. To be his size and play the way he did and put the numbers up he did speaks volumes about him."

Allison, who retired after playing with the AHL's Binghamton Senators in 2006-07, said he didn't see coaching in Gilmour's future at the time.

"He was still playing, so I don't think he thought too much about it. But I could definitely see that he had a lot to offer to the game."

Game 2 of the series is scheduled at Brampton at 2 p.m. Sunday. The third is at Kingston at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with the fourth on Battalion ice on Thursday, March 25, at 7 p.m.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 17, 2010


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