Billy Gilmour (ice hockey)

Lore & Background

Billy Gilmour began playing organized hockey at age 15 for the Ottawa Aberdeens in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League intermediate division. After two seasons there, he joined the Ottawa Hockey Club for the 1903 season, playing alongside his brothers Suddy and Dave. That team, nicknamed the 'Silver Seven', won the Stanley Cup, and players were given silver nuggets by team manager Robert Taylor Shillington, a part-owner of a silver mine. Gilmour scored seven goals in six games that season.

In 1903, Gilmour moved to Montreal to attend McGill University, where he played college hockey. He continued to join Ottawa for Stanley Cup challenge games in 1904 and 1905 and a league game in 1906. After finishing McGill in 1907, he played one season with the Montreal Victorias, scoring five goals in ten games. He returned to Ottawa for the 1908-09 season, scoring nine goals in eleven games as Ottawa won the league and another Stanley Cup. He retired from competitive hockey in 1909 after moving to Montreal and marrying, though he played two games for the Ottawa Senators of the NHA in 1916.

Reader's Guide

Billy Gilmour's significance lies in his role as a key member of the dominant Ottawa Hockey Club teams of the early 1900s, which won five Stanley Cup championships between 1903 and 1909. His career spanned both amateur and professional eras, as he played in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League and later in the professional National Hockey Association. Gilmour's family connection is notable: two of his brothers, Suddy and Dave, also played for Ottawa. After his playing career, he served as a lieutenant in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War and later worked as an engineer. His induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962 recognizes his contributions to the sport during its formative years.

Did You Know?

• Billy Gilmour was a member of the Ottawa 'Silver Seven', named after silver nuggets given to players by team manager Robert Taylor Shillington.
• He played college hockey at McGill University while studying engineering.
• Gilmour enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 1st Construction Battalion.
• He is buried at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa.