Jack Gelineau

Jack Gelineau (born November 11, 1924 in Toronto, Ontario - died November 12, 1998). He 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.

He was a Canadian ice hockey goaltender who played for the Boston Bruins and briefly the Chicago Blackhawks. He won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie in 1950, but was unable to capitalize on his early potential. In 143 career games he had 46 wins, 64 losses and 33 ties with a 3.13 goals-against average.

Gelineau played in nets with the Junior Canadiens in 1944-45, entered McGill University 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.

Ironically, Frank Brimsek's successor at Boston died the day after Gelineau died, on November 12, 1998 of cancer.

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