Former NHL defenceman Hal Gill was a member of the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs before joining the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent in 2009.
But despite donning two of their biggest rivals’ colours beforehand, Gill quickly fell in love with Montreal.
In a recent interview on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, the 48-year-old Massachusetts native touched on his career highlights, along with his three-season stint with the Habs.
When asked about his favourite places to play, Montreal quickly came up. Gill cited the passion of the fans as one of the main reasons for enjoying his time there.
“It was a circus. We were a new team and we had a bunch of new guys. We had fun,” said Gill. “[In] Montreal, like, every game is so huge.”
The stay-at-home defenceman did not get on the scoreboard often, but that didn’t stop him from feeling the support of the Bell Centre crowd, which he said was very encouraging.
“What I loved is the levels of ‘ooh,’ ‘aah,’ ‘eeh’ throughout the game,” Gill explained. “I’d make a poke check and you’d hear the crowd.”
Another aspect of the big hockey market that Gill enjoyed was how closely people follow the team.
“They’re so in tune with the game,” Gill said. “A homeless guy, he was like looking for money. And I turned around, he’s like, ‘Oh, you’re Hal Gill!’
At 6-foot-7, Gill was known for using his size to block opposing players’ shots in his own zone.
While that’s something most coaches find heroic, Michel Therrien, who Gill played under while he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, did not.
According to the blueliner turned broadcaster, he was once called into the former Canadiens and Penguins coach’s office, only to find Therrien on the floor.
“I get in there and he’s on his knees behind the desk in his office. And I go ‘Are you okay?’ He goes, ‘I can’t move. I can’t move because I’m on my knees,” Gill, who was perplexed at the time, explained.
“I looked up and on the TV there’s a video stopped of me in front of the net trying to block a shot,” Gill said. “And [Therrien] goes, ‘You can’t move either. Stop going down on your knees to block shots.”
Therrien ended up scratching the defenceman for a series of games following the incident before being fired and replaced by Dan Bylsma.
Luckily, Gill, who retired with over 1,100 games under his belt, didn’t have to play under him in Montreal, departing in a trade to the Nashville Predators before the coach returned to the Canadiens.