Home Player Bios Canadiens Player Bio – Hal Gill

Canadiens Player Bio – Hal Gill

Sara A
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Canadiens Player Bio – Hal Gill

Hal Gill – Defenceman
Number: 75
Height: 6’7”
Weight: 241
Shoots: Left
Born: April 15, 1975
Birthplace: Concord, MA, USA
Drafted: BOS, 1993
Round: 8th (207th overall)
Acquired: Signed as a free agent July 1st, 2009
The Early Years
  • Hal Gill grew up in Concord, a small town in Massachusetts. In his teenage years, he attended Nashoba Regional High School, where he played football for the Chieftains. Hal, the team’s quarterback, had a strong throwing arm and was known as a very good decision maker. When asked, Hal’s high school coach said that Gill could have turned out like Tom Brady had he continued a football career!
  • Even if he was better known as a football player, Gill was also a member of his school’s hockey team. When he finished high school, Gill had to choose what sport he wanted to play in college: football or hockey. After all these years, Hal admits that this decision is probably the hardest one he had to make in his like. Gill thought about it a lot. He realized he had invested a lot and would miss it too much to quit it, so he decided to accept Providence College’s hockey scholarship offer.
The Hockey Years
  • In June 1993, a couple of months before going to college, Gill received a call from a recruiter telling him he had been drafted by the Boston Bruins. It was quite a surprise to Gill since he didn’t even know it was the NHL draft! But before joining the Bruins, the defenseman first attended Providence College in Rhode Island.
  • At the beginning, Gill didn’t get as much ice time as he wanted, which made him doubt his choice. He asked himself many times if he had made the right decision choosing hockey over football. In the college career, Gill still managed to play 131 games, in which he scored 12 goals and 31 assists.
  • After spending four years with the Providence Friars, Gill started the 1997-1998 season with the Bruins’ AHL affiliate team and after only 4 games (1G-0A), he got called up by the Bruins. Playing for the B’s was very special to Gill because it gave him the chance to play alongside his idol Raymond Bourque. Gill says it’s an honour to have played with Bourque and that at every occasion he had, he tried to learn from him.
  • During the NHL’s lock-out, Gill played in Finland, where he scored 2 goals and 8 assists in the 31 games he played for the Lukko Rauma.
  • When he came back to North America, the defenseman played his final season with the Bruins.
  • On July 1st 2006, he signed a three year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
  • Two years later, in February 2008, Gill got traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he won the Stanley Cup in 2009.
  • The summer after he won the cup, Gill was looking for a new contract. Since the Penguins weren’t ready to give him the 2 years he wanted, Gill went on to sign with the Montreal Canadiens instead.
  • In 2011, he signed a one-year contract extension with the Habs.
Hockey Firsts
  • First Game : October 17th 1997 against the Vancouver Canucks
  • First Goal : November 13th 1997 against the St-Louis Blues
  • First Assist : November 6th 1997 against the Washington Capitals
  • Canadiens First Game : October 1st 2009 against the Toronto Maple Leafs
  • Canadiens First Goal : October 31st 2009 against the Toronto Maple Leafs
  • Canadiens First Assist : December 4th 2009 against the Boston Bruins
Personal Life
  • Hal Gill met his wife Anne in college. After a year of being friends, they started dating, and after four years of dating, they got married. They now have two daughters, Isabelle, who was born in 2004, and Sophie, in 2007.
Random/Fun Facts
  • In the team’s locker room at Providence College, Gill’s spot in the locker room was identified with a “Gill 3” sticker. One of his teammate decided to write “Skill 0” over it as a joke. After the Bauer representative came to take the orders, Gill’s skates were delivered to the name Skillo. The nickname stuck and ever since, Gill’s nickname is Skillsy.
  • When he won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins, Gill brought it to his high school in order to raise money for a new football field and managed to collect over $5000. He also brought it to the Little Wonderers, a home for abused children.
  • What Hal Gill prefers in Montreal is the Bell Centre, which has always been his favourite arena. He also loves the restaurants, the different cultures and the city’s nightlife.
  • Hal Gill on Twitter: @skillsy75
Career Regular Season Stats
Season Age Tm Lg GP G A PTS GC +/- PIM EV PP SH GW S S% TOI ATOI
1997-98 22 BOS NHL 68 2 4 6 2 4 47 2 0 0 0 56 3.6
1998-99 23 BOS NHL 80 3 7 10 4 -10 63 3 0 0 2 102 2.9 1672 20:54
1999-00 24 BOS NHL 81 3 9 12 4 0 51 3 0 0 0 120 2.5 1398 17:15
2000-01 25 BOS NHL 80 1 10 11 3 -2 71 1 0 0 0 79 1.3 1467 18:21
2001-02 26 BOS NHL 79 4 18 22 7 16 77 4 0 0 0 137 2.9 1913 24:13
2002-03 27 BOS NHL 76 4 13 17 6 21 56 4 0 0 0 114 3.5 1573 20:42
2003-04 28 BOS NHL 82 2 7 9 3 16 99 2 0 0 0 104 1.9 1509 18:24
2005-06 30 BOS NHL 80 1 9 10 3 -4 124 1 0 0 0 68 1.5 1489 18:37
2006-07 31 TOR NHL 82 6 14 20 7 11 91 6 0 0 1 79 7.6 1549 18:53
2007-08 32 TOT NHL 81 3 21 24 7 6 68 3 0 0 0 86 3.5 1620 19:60
2007-08 32 TOR NHL 63 2 18 20 6 0 52 2 0 0 0 69 2.9 1304 20:42
2007-08 32 PIT NHL 18 1 3 4 1 6 16 1 0 0 0 17 5.9 315 17:31
2008-09 33 PIT NHL 62 2 8 10 3 11 53 2 0 0 0 40 5.0 1109 17:54
2009-10 34 MTL NHL 68 2 9 11 4 -10 68 2 0 0 0 41 4.9 1247 18:21
2010-11 35 MTL NHL 75 2 7 9 3 -9 43 2 0 0 1 62 3.2 1486 19:49
Career NHL 994 35 136 171 56 50 911 35 0 0 4 1088 3.2 18033 19:28
Career Playoff Stats
Season Age Tm Lg GP G A PTS GC +/- PIM EV PP SH GW S S% TOI ATOI
1997-98 22 BOS NHL 6 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 3 0.0
1998-99 23 BOS NHL 12 0 0 0 -1 14 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 248 20:41
2001-02 26 BOS NHL 6 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 138 23:04
2002-03 27 BOS NHL 5 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 102 20:19
2003-04 28 BOS NHL 7 0 1 1 -2 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 133 19:03
2007-08 32 PIT NHL 20 0 1 1 2 12 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 386 19:17
2008-09 33 PIT NHL SC 24 0 2 2 8 6 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 466 19:26
2009-10 34 MTL NHL 18 0 1 1 -3 20 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 358 19:54
2010-11 35 MTL NHL 7 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 164 23:22
Career NHL 1 105 0 6 6 2 68 0 0 0 0 89 0.0 1996 20:09
All Habs Player Bio | Compiled by: Sara A. | Design by: Stevo | © All Habs 2011

(Featured Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)
(Video by NHL.com)

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Sara A
http://www.allhabs.net/
Sara didn’t grow up in a hockey family. She has no nice stories about how she spent her childhood winters watching Hockey Night in Canada with her dad. What really happened is that one day, she decided to watch one hockey game by herself (just to see what the fuss was all about) and that was all it took. Love at first sight. A couple of years later, her passion is stronger than ever. She is currently studying communications at Université de Montréal, hoping to make it in the hockey media business one day. Artistic, expressive and meticulous, she would like to become a reporter or a video editor. When she is not watching, talking or writing about hockey, she likes to listen to music, watch one of her too many favourite tv shows and hangs out with her friends.

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