Don Gallinger

Donald Calvin Gallinger (April 16, 1925 — February 3, 2000) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played 222 games in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins between 1942 and 1948.

Born in Port Colborne, Gallinger was one of the league's youngest players when he broke into the NHL, playing on the "Sprout Line" of Boston with Bill Shill and Bep Guidolin.

In the 1940s, the most famous betting scandal in North American organised sport was baseball's 1919 World Series.

However, gambling was also a problem in professional hockey.

Gallinger missed a large part of the 1943–44 and all of the 1944–45 season serving with the Canadian military.

They occurred on March 21, 1943 versus Montreal and March 28, 1946 versus Detroit.

At the time, only Mel Hill had scored multiple playoff overtime goals for Boston.

(Hill had three.) No other Bruin would match that feat until Terry O'Reilly did it more than 30 years later.

Before leaving for the military, on January 8, 1944, in a game at Maple Leaf Gardens against the Boston Bruins, the mayor of Port Colborne honoured Kennedy and Gallinger, both hometown heroes, with gold watches on behalf of his town's citizens.

Beginning in February 1944, Gallinger played hockey for the R.C.A.F. Bombers.

At the time of his entering the military, Gallinger had scored 13 goals in 23 games with Boston.

He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, graduating at the top of his air gunners' class.

He was discharged in September 1945 as a flying officer.

Gallinger finished the 1945–46 season leading the Bruins in points.

The Bruins finished in second place in the NHL and went to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the Montreal Canadiens.

Gallinger had been offered contracts to play baseball by both the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies while he was with the Bruins.

In April 1946, Gallinger had a tryout with the Red Sox.

Boston sportswriter Bill Grimes said Gallinger "may turn out to be a great shortstop. He can run, he can throw, and he's got good power at the plate. he takes a level cut and hits the ball very sharply."

A sportswriter suggested to Gallinger it might be better for him to try for an outfield position since the Red Sox's current shortstop Johnny Pesky was considered the league's best.

Gallinger confidently replied that Pesky "beat out somebody else for the job, didn't he?"

However, Gallinger turned down the baseball opportunities, because the money offered was not enough.

Gallinger finished the 1946–47 season with 10 points less than his previous year as the NHL strengthened with the return of players who had been serving in the war.

The Bruins finished in third place and lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens.

Gallinger twice scored playoff overtime goals for Boston.

In 1946, the NHL had discovered a betting ring operating in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

Babe Pratt, a star player with Toronto, was suspended for nine games for betting on his own team.

Gallinger's career was cut short, when in 1948 Gallinger and former team-mate Billy Taylor were discovered gambling on their own teams and banned for life by the NHL.

They were reinstated in 1970 and these are the longest suspensions in NHL history.

Prior to the suspension, Gallinger had established himself an effective offensive NHL player and, as an excellent multi-sport athlete, had even been sought after to play professional baseball.

Don Gallinger came from a hockey family.

Gallinger's father, Frank, was a lacrosse player, but also played hockey in the Northern Hockey League.

Don Gallinger had two uncles, "Red" and "Shorty" Green, who were considered talented players during the era when players played the full 60 minutes.

Don's eldest brother, Frank, played senior hockey in Port Colborne.

Brother Keith played intermediate hockey.

In junior hockey, Gallinger was team-mates and friends with future Hockey Hall of Fame member Teeder Kennedy.

The two were successful in both hockey and football.

Gallinger was the second-youngest player in NHL history when he broke into the NHL with Boston at age 17, playing on the "Sprout Line" with Bill Shill and Bep Guidolin.

The Bruins had lost their high-scoring line of Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart to the Royal Canadian Air Force and NHL teams were willing to accept younger players.

Gallinger showed natural ability as a goal-scorer and was third in voting for the Calder rookie of the year award.

The Bruins finished in second place in the regular season and went to the Stanley Cup finals losing to the Detroit Red Wings in four straight games.