Goaltender Jack Gelineau, who led the Redmen to their last hockey championship in 1946 and went on to win the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of-the-year with the Boston Bruins in 1950, was inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
John Edward (Jack) Gelineau, was born in Toronto on Nov. 11, 1924 and attended Catholic High School in Montreal. During the war he played for the RCAF hockey team and was awarded the British Empire Medal for gallantry after surviving a 1944 plane crash and rescuing an injured crewman from the burning plane that was loaded with ammunition.
Gelineau played in nets with the Junior Canadiens in 1944-45, entered McGill in 1945 and graduated with a bachelor of commerce in 1949.
He starred between the pipes at McGill for four seasons racking up a 48-21-2 over-all record with a 3.39 goals against average. He also played intermediate basketball, football and varsity baseball which resulted in a tryout with the Boston Red Sox.
The last McGill goalie to be named team captain, Gelineau backstopped the Redmen to the 1946 Queen's Cup championship. He was the first recipient of the Forbes Trophy as McGill's male athlete of the year in 1948.
That spring, he was called up to the Boston Bruins, becoming the first goalie in 30 years to play in the NHL while still attending university (two decades later, Ken Dryden duplicated this feat while studying law at McGill and playing for the Canadiens).
The next season, Gelineau won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie-of-the-year (1949-50). Despite his successful debut, he was unable to get a raise out of stingy Bruins owner Weston Adams and eventually forced a trade to the Chicago Blackhawks.
In an era when there were only six goalies in the NHL, Gelineau played four seasons and posted a 3.13 goals-against average. He earned seven shutouts, ending up with 46 wins and 33 ties (!) in 143 NHL games. Fed up with the way owners took advantage of players, he traded in his NHL career for a job in the business world in 1954.
Gelineau, who currently lives in St. Bruno, Que., and is honourary president of the Redmen hockey team, retired in 1996 after decades as manager of the Montreal golden age home "Le Manoir Westmount". He died of cancer on Nov. 12, 1998.
NHL TEAMS
-Boston Bruins (1948-51)
-Chicago Blackhawks (1953-54)
