Violent Goon to Lifesaving Hero: The Gordie "Machine Gun" Gallant Story
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- čas přidán 16. 05. 2022
- Hot tempered Gordie Gallant was the WHA’s first enforcer - an untamed outlaw who took on all the tough guys in the wild WHA. Even his coach wasn’t spared from the man with fists so fast they called him “Machine Gun.”
Gordie Gallant was beloved in Minnesota in the mid 1970s. He Later brought his LUST FOR VIOLENCE to Quebec City, where he was front and center in the league’s all time ugliest incident.
Later in life Gallant would transform from hockey goon to lifesaving hero.
This is the story of Gordie “Machine Gun” Gallant, the unpredictable and feared WHA rebel, who put the fight in the Minnesota Fighting Saints.
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The game in question between the Cowboys and Nordiques was not televised here in Calgary in April of 1976. The next game was played at the old Stampede Corral and had plenty of police presence. Calgary clinched the series on the road on a Sunday night. I listened to it on the radio. One really nice classy thing took place after the game that perhaps some fans may not have been aware of. In spite of the nastiness a group of Nordiques players came out after the game. They boarded the bus containing the Calgary players and proceeded to shake everyone’s hands. A true act of sportsmanship indeed!
Thanks CR ... that is GREAT info ... all I saw in the states were were wire stories and the Hockey News.
Better not to live like animals.
A few years ago, Marc Tardif owned a few car dealerships in Kanada and Jodzio reached out to people who knew Marc and inquired as to the possibility of a meeting between the two. Marc agreed and the pair met in Marc’s toyyoda dealership where Jodzio apologized and Marc graciously accepted. Now that’s class!
Gord is my 1st cousin and I was talking to him in July he looks great for a man who went to Hell & Back
Just proof of who people really are, when he was needed the most he was there and he saved lives, everything he had been through up to that point mightve led to that moment, great video, great man
I remember going to Fighting Saints games ..My mother could not afford to take us to North Star games but we could go to the New St Paul Civic center with the all glass boards . it was awesome !
Very well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Machine-gun was an old teammate and roommate of mine in his final hockey playing days with the New Brunswick Hawks of the AHL. We picked him up on our Calder cup run. We also had mutual friends in Moncton… Punchie Cormier a Golden gloves boxer RIP and Victor Cormier a black belt expert. You can imagine the summer times with that threesome patrolling Shediac Beach! Gordie, sure made the bench a lot braver. LOL thank you for sharing the story. Mark Kirton's
Thanks so much, Mark … I greatly appreciate your comments and big league perspective. Gordie was always a mythical figure for me and I appreciate your feedback!
I played senior hockey with Gord my 1st cousin even in his 40s he would NOT back down from NOTHING lol
Mr.Gallant also played hockey with the GrandFalls Cataracts in the Newfoundland senior hockey league,back in the 80ty.He was loved down here on the old rock and he was king on the ice. No one fooled with Mr.Gallant. I think the cataracts won the herder “The NL Stanley Cup the 3 or 4 years he played here. By Jesus he could fight and he was a damn good defensive player. I found him to be a real gentleman. I met him at the YMCA and he always talk to you and always lent a hand when training. A class act. So glad to hear after all these years that he is doing good. God bless you Mr.Gallant -you will always be welcome on the old rock.
Thanks for the memories.👍🙏
KEVIN CORBIN
GFW-NL
A story for any hockey fan that had to be told. Well done by all.
Thank you very much for your kind words. Greatly appreciated.
Terrific storytelling my friend you are great at making these! Thorougly enjoyed this video!
What a fantastic yet tragic story! I am glad to hear that Gallant stayed positive and helped others while returning to his roots. What a wild ride!
The WHA was the greatest league ever, entertaining as hell and tough as nails!
had to keep your head on a swivel in the WHA!
I loved it ! I preferred going to the new Civic center and watching the Saints then going to the Met Center and watching the North Stars
Another great story, done with the usual great quality we have learned to expect from PHA! Thanks again!!!
Thanks OG!
Gotta love those see thru boards
That's the St. Paul Civic Center, where the Fighting Saints played their home games.
Gordie! My Uncle's favorite player! I was too young to appreciate the Saints but when I couldn't skate backwards as a youngster, Unc always said that it was okay bc neither could Gordie. But Gordie had some skills! Thanks again!
Beauty.
Thanks again for all the work with these, very well done.
Cheers
This man is a beast! I love these showcases.
Another great story, thank you.
Thanks. I did not know much about this player.
I'm 59 years old and to this day I'd never seen an arena that had clear/ transparent boards, I never even knew they existed...daaamn :)
You have got amazing stuff on your channel, Im blown away. I love it.
Thanks again for another hockey history lesson! That was an interesting story, especially with regards to Gallant's life after hockey. Top work guys.
Thanks for watching … greatly appreciate the feedback! Gordie was a beloved player in MN.
Absolutely addicted to these videos. Great stories, excellently told. Thanks!
Thank you very much! Gotta love the stories and personalities from this era! 💪
Saw him play senior hockey for Stephenville Jets in the NFLD senior league back in the 80s. Was a great fighter who never gave up.
Good stuff. Love all your efforts. Been wanting to write a note on one of these for a while. Love the fact you worked for the whalers. Grew up in CT in the seventies and eighties. Diehard whalermaniac. My first game was 84-85 season, 7-6 loss to Vancouver in overtime. Turgeon had a hat trick. Right after Liut trade. Was at the game against Toronto when they clinched playoffs in ‘86. I’ll never forget it. Got to go game three against Montreal when Liut got hurt. I’ve never heard the mall so quiet. I let out a “WEEEEEEEEEEEKS” at the top of my lungs when he replaced Mike. I was near the glass and I KNOW he heard me. 🤣 Had season tickets 93-94. What a brutal year. As much as the Francis trade, I feel that year killed the team and any hope for a viable future. Hate seeing you in that bruins garb but I get it. Just wanted to say thank you for putting out the content that you do. So enjoyable, well researched and factual.(Frank P would be proud)Really appreciate it. Let’s go whale! 🐳
Thanks, John ... I greatly appreciate your thoughtful and insightful comment. The mid 80s in Hartford were special -- you had to be there to appreciate it. Seemed like the franchise and the city had no limits. By 1991, everything was in tatters. Richard Gordon was the death knell of Hartford hockey. I just read Brian Burke's book and it reminded me of how depressing the Whalers franchise became in the 90s. By that time I was (happily) in Pittsburgh, but it was a shame. Yes, Frank was someone I spent endless hours with -- he was prolific to say the least. I greatly up Bruins fan but adopted the New England Whalers by 1973. My dream was to work for them and luckily it came to reality. These days, I enjoy staying connected to the game vis the Bruins Alumni and this channel. I greatly appreciate your thoughts and thanks again.
Keep up the amazing content bud! Love it 😌
Excellent channel 👍👍👍 great work
Fighting Saints 😳💪
Great video once again. When I think of the WHA and hockey during that era I think of the movie "slapshot" with Paul Newman. A lot of goon hockey, but still fun. He seems to have matured into a better person, and he's right about childhood, it sure is a time of innocence that goes too fast.
right ... Slapshot was far closer to reality than many realize.THX!
What a hero, a real champ.
Awesome video. Really liked this one. I look forward to the next one. Keep up the great work
Thanks, will do!
Love these clips
What a lovely story. I have never heard of him until now. Thanks for sharing and the upload. You get a like from me and I subbed.
Thanks, Probie!
Great story!
I remember drawing hockey fights by 13, a scrap book of my pictures and from a Sports Illustrated in 78’ article on the Gooned up Fighting Saints of Minnesota it had Gallant featured in a fight, I free handed that picture and drew a Gord Gallant fight exactly from the book and the exact opponent. Just found the suitcase with that photo album full of my hockey fight drawings ( in color pencils;) as my Simpleton Dad and stepmom discouraged almost my entire life and still have much hate inside for their telling me what I could and couldn’t do as hobbies . Still hate that Cant stepmom of mine and my dad was a dick - head and thinking of this just pissses me off to this day .
Thanks for this comment ... really felt your anguish ... speciate the time you took to express yourself. THX!
Those see through boards must have been a nightmare. Great video as always
Great story - I grew up in Fredericton and remember Gordie back in the sixties. I got to see him play and fight at the York arena on more than one occasion. I find it interesting that you video has an image of a program from the Halifax Junior Canadiens in 1967. Does anyone know if Halifax was his first junior team in the Maritimes?
Wow you really do your research , I really learn a lot about these players, pretty cool.
Awesome piece…really enjoyed this
Many thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for all of this informative hockey content! As a newer (and younger) hockey fan, it's nice to see channels like this that help me learn more history about the sport of hockey. Clearly theirs a lot to it lol, but It's a very exciting sport, especially during the playoffs from what I l've heard.
Much appreciated! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Nice one . Close to home here in Nova Scotia .
WHAT A STORY. EPIC.
The "Fighting saints" and the "North Stars sounds better than the "Wild"
Wow i love every second of it
Thanks so much ... btw, is your middle name Perreault?
After all these years watching Slap Shot I finally know who they modeled the character Ogie Oglethorpe after: Bill Goldthorpe.
Im looking at my Gordie Gallant Wha card and its a real beaut .A truly good man. Very nice video.
I'm from Scoudouc N.B. 12 kms. from Shediac and Pointe du Chène where Gordie grew-up. I'm 3 years older than Gordie He was always a great guy to have on your side. A no nonsence guy with a big kind heart.
That's awesome! THX!
Those see-through boards were cool.
Those knees😮 he’s ruthless 😅😅
This was a great story, well done! But i think nobody was tougher than Kevin Morrison was...
Nobody be messin’ with Morrison!
My Mom said "Gordie, you're French!" lol
Tardif never fully recovered from that attack by Jodzio. I saw Jodzio play in an AHL game against the Maine Mariners in Portland, Me in1978/79 when he was playing for New Brunswick. All he did was skate up and down the ice in a straight line, never going into the corners nor heading for the net. I guess his goon days were over by then.
very tough guy.
I remember him when he used to play for Salt Lake City team Blues minor league affiliate at that time
Gordie is wearing the Reggie Dublap leather coat in the news clip. Was he the fashion inspiration for Newman?
Might have been 😀 that interview was classic
Im glad I got to watch this. I grew up in that community and was apart of the youth baseball program he ran. As a kid I had no idea about all his back story. This is a really cool piece of history and also explains a little bit more about who he was.
Thanks so much for your perspective on Gord - they don’t em like that anymore!
Shawn Wallace ewe 10 year old completely empty sock puppet who’s never commented here before is a fraggin bot- A | troll
4:35 look at those ticket prices
*$3.00* to *$6.50*
Those were WHA prices and I don't know how they compared to NHL prices at the time but I imagine they were almost the same.
Now *one Leaf ticket* goes for *$330.00* in the upper bowl up to *$1,500.00* in the Lower bowl, which is *ridiculous*
no doubt the middle class fan is being priced out of pro sports arenas.
@@ProHockeyAlumni Everything else too, but hey, rich people got some more tax cuts so we should be happy for the chance to get rich and benefit from them (or whatever ideological crap the TV is spewing).
God,how many teams did Emile Frances work as General Manager for.I know of 3.the Wings,Blues,Rangers..did I miss any?
Now that's fighting a half an hour wow
As a hockey fan growing up in NY during the 70's, I tried to follow what was going on in the WHA, but after the Raiders/Golden Blades left (they never had a chance), the only source for news was The Hockey News. Except for two occasions, the only time the WHA made news in the regular press, and it made big headlines. One was when Gallant beat up Harry Neale. The other was the Rick Jodzio incident. Hockey was kind of like auto racing, that it would only get into the newspapers when something bad happened. I don't remember how close in time the Jodzio thing was to the Flyers-Maple Leafs playoff brawl that saw a bunch of the Flyers players getting arrested, but for a few weeks there it seemed violence in hockey was a threat to civilization, the way it was played up in the papers. Then things returned to normal and nobody paid attention to hockey, which is really the best thing for hockey fans.
I enjoyed this comment ... very insightful! THX!
I use to go to Toronto Toro's games back then. When you have 2 profession leagues and most of the players were Canadian the product was very watered down.
@@mckessa17 Toronto Toros. Jeez. I remember them, though I never saw them play. I just remember it was a big deal because they signed Frank Mahovlich and Paul Henderson, who were major names, but I guess just playing out the string.
We have an awesome American player named Austen Matthews who plays for our local team the glorious Toronto Maple Leafs. What I find interesting about him is that he grew up playing hockey in the Arizona desert and is one of the best players in the NHL. As kids we use to play a ton of pond hockey which would improve our skating and puck handling skills. Matthews would not have this opportunity and turned out to be a superstar hockey player with 60 goals this year. Truly amazing.
No wonder Gerard was so tough.... He had Gord to look up to.....
What song is behind footage at 4:30?
What an amazing person!
if i remember correctly, wasnt gordie scared of pissing off larry zeidel, i remember hearing a story about how even gordie didnt want to upset zeidel in case zeidel snapped on him
Ya Harry had a curfew n he did give him shit but he fails to mention that Harry is telling and instructing Gordie who he will be fighting n then go on TV deny thst he was not that type of coach.
I had a Hockey News subscription throughout the 70s and into the early 80s and recall seeing a picture of the battered Harry Neale. I always looked down on the WHA,likely because they lured several of my Leafs to their league(I was a kid and didn't know way back then that the idiot Harold Ballard was the reason this happened. He was a cheapskate nutcase.). I always thought,and still do,that FIGHTING SAINTS is a nonsensical nickname. However,the league was better than most people thought and truly colorful.
Sounds like your typical maritime raised Gallant lol , they are a huge clan Atlantic Canada , mostly descendants of the Acadians. Gerard Gallant of the NHL is another perfect example. Tough as nails and game for anything when the fuse goes off. It would not surprise me if they were related in some way.🤣
Might need a vid on Jim Dorey- guy sounds pretty insane
Could be ... long fuse but could lose it, for sure. Real good guy, though.
He set an NHL single-game record for penalties (9) and minutes (48) in his first game in the league, with the Maple Leafs on Oct. 16, 1968. His good looks made him a local heartthrob in his days in Toronto.
@@orbyfan dominated the blow dryer game
I remember the Rangers acquiring Jim Dorey. He was another of the tough guys they were always trying to bring in to protect Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert. Now I look up his record and am amazed to see he only ever played one game for the Rangers! I also see he was acquired by the Rangers for Pierre Jarry, who the Rangers hype machine had touted a couple of years earlier as the greatest player out of Quebec since Jean Beliveau. But the 1970's Rangers were always saying stuff like that.
@@RRaquello You must be as big a fan as I am of the 1972 Draft. The Rangers pass on Bob Nystrom 4 times before he goes in the third round. I guess I should be happy, they would have traded him anyway.
The Bulls were the old Toronto Toro's.
Gordie is my cousin. My mom is a Gallant from Shediac. I looked up to him when I was a boy.
They don't make 'em like Gordie Gallant anymore!
Gil Tuttle?
OK wait though, this is a sport where technically violence wouldn't be a part of it if it hadn't been pushed into it... So, no surprise that it made matters worse for many sportsmen who had to fight in order to keep playing. Inciting violence can be a very bad trigger for many. You can't pretend this isn't true or swipe the issues under the rug. These athletes are young and inexperienced when they're draft and thrown into the game, no wonder many lose site of themselves.
Champ,
fuck advertisements i want more glass boards
Shediac, NB lobster capital of the world.
That's Shed EE ACK, not SHEED EE ACK. 😉
I wonder was he related to current coach of the New York Rangers and ex Red wing player Gerrard Gallant?
No
@@karibourque614 Oh OK but you never know this is a small world as they say.
@@karibourque614 OK are you related to Ray Bourque who played with the Bruins?
The clear boards are too distracting. Especially if a woman's wearing a skirt.
HA HA ... 100 percent true!
That's a good one I love it
Shed iac not sheediac
Cool … but somebody gotta tell dat to Google
She-diac? No
Good videos, take a drink of water every now and then so you stop doing that annoying mealy mouth thing.
💦
He was not a legitimate hockey player. Despicable person.
half right. Thanks for watching.
Another hockey playing fool. Glad I don't remember him, but couldn't resist the lurid story promised in the video title.
Sounds like a nice choir boy.
Great content! Does anyone know anything about those boards at 1:28? That looks pretty cool
Thanks -- yup the clear boards were the signature of the St. Paul CC.
@@ProHockeyAlumni Interesting, thanks. I wonder how they held up to the puck