Gillies was 'Gentle Giant' with Islanders during Hall of Fame NHL career

Legendary hockey writer Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
This week, Fischler offers some memories of Hockey Hall of Fame forward Clark Gillies, who died at 67 on Jan. 21.

Mention the name Clark Gillies to anyone who coached, played with or simply met the man nicknamed "Jethro," and, guaranteed, you'll get a smile.
Because, more than anything, Clark was a fun human being.
He also was a heckuva' hockey player, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002 after scoring 697 points (319 goals, 378 assists) in 958 NHL games and winning the Stanley Cup four times with the New York Islanders.
And he scored, perhaps, the first really important goal in Islanders history on April 11, 1975.
"Who can forget that one?" said former Islanders goalie Glenn "Chico" Resch, one of Gillies' closest friends and a fellow Saskatchewan native. "That's the night we put the [New York] Rangers in their place and 'Clarkie' was the guy who started our big playoff victory."
In 1974-75, their third season, the Islanders reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time. And they faced their rival Rangers in a best-of-3 series in the first round.
After splitting the first two games, the Islanders were big underdogs against the Rangers in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden. Gillies, a rookie, scored the first goal of the game, at 16:00 of the first period, and the Islanders raced to a 3-0 lead after two before winning 4-3 when J.P. Parise scored 11 seconds into overtime after a furious rally by the Rangers in the third.
"Clark first got a penalty a little past halfway through the first period but we held off the Rangers and then, a little more than three minutes later, he put us ahead, 1-0," Resch recalled. "That was big, very big.
"As everyone knows, we jumped to a three-zip lead and eventually the Rangers tied us and then J.P. won it in OT. But it was Clarke that got us going."
It would be five years until the Islanders won the first of four straight Stanley Cup championships in 1980, but that initial series win against the Rangers put them on the map in the NHL.
Lucky me got to know Gillies from the get-go. He was the quintessential power forward, the cop on a line with Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier. Gillies was intimidating (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), though he never reached 100 penalty minutes in any of his 14 NHL seasons with the Islanders and Buffalo Sabres.
Even guys who he beat up will attest that Gillies was a "Gentle Giant." One of them was Boston Bruins forward Terry O'Reilly who Jethro demolished during the 1980 playoffs.

"Despite that licking he took, even O'Reilly couldn't get mad at Clarkie," Resch added.
Not long after Gillies died Jan. 21, people from the hockey community reached out to me share stories of the big guy.
"I once asked Clark if his linemates, Bossy and 'Trots' ever asked him to fight for them," veteran broadcaster Budd Mischkin recalled. "Gillies said no. But then he added that one time Bossy was having trouble with the Buffalo defenseman Jerry Korab.
"So, Bossy told Gillies that the next time they were in the corner, Bossy was going to leap up and elbow Korab in the face (out of character for Bossy). And Bossy said to Gillies, 'When I land back on my skates on the ice, I would like to see you standing there.'
"Gillies was and dissuaded Korab from taking any further pugilistic action against Bossy. Clark told me the story, and then laughed a hearty laugh."
We all knew that laugh and I remember it well from one of my favorite moments with Gillies. It was in the early 1980's and I was dispatched to his home on Long Island. It was mid-summer so we decided to do the television interview poolside.
Clark was dressed casually while I was there in a new suit. As always, my buddy, the left wing, was witty, insightful and just about as good an interview any broadcaster would want.
But I also knew that Gillies had a love for practical jokes and as the interview ended, I got this strong sense that Gillies was about to give me a gentle shove into his pool.
I was sure it was going to happen and was prepared for the shove, but it never happened. A few minutes later when we shared a few beers, I casually asked, "Were you going to dunk me in the water?"
A large grin crossed his face.
"Damn right I was going to push you," Gillies said. "But then I took a look at your suit and tie and only wished you had been wearing a bathing suit. So, I changed my mind."
Gillies loved sharing his tales.
"One of my favorite pranks as a young player was scissoring off the toes of teammates' socks," Gillies said. "Then, he'd pull his socks on and all of a sudden, he'd wind up pulling them over his foot.
"One afternoon we had finished a practice and I got the notion to slice (coach) Al Arbour's socks. After I had done the job, I got into the physical therapy whirlpool and was looking straight across at Al's locker when he walked in to change.
"Sure enough, he pulled on the socks and they went straight over his feet. You should have heard him yelling, 'Son of a gun, I know you did it.' Of course, I denied it. 'No, Al, it wasn't me.' But he picked up all my clothes and dumped them in the whirlpool. 'That'll teach you,' he said.
"Finally, I asked him, 'How did you know it was me?' Then, he told me something I'll never forget. 'You can't fool me. I know everything.' And I learned that it was true, Al knew everything!"
I could go on forever about how much I loved the guy; how much he'd light up any room he'd enter. But if I write too much more I'll start weeping over the passing of a dear friend.
Rest in peace, old pal.