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Swift Current, Saskatchewan
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Trottier
Clark Gillies
Regina
Tiger Williams
Ian MacPhee
Bryan Trottier
Mike Bossy
Garry Howatt
Clarkie
Jerry
Korab
Jim Schoenfeld
Jocelyn Guevremont
Bob Nystrom
Denis Potvin
Val Marie
Jean Potvin
Kenny
Rogers
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Zamboni
Национальной
Islanders
Clarkie
Gillies
Western
the Minnesota North Stars
Clark Gillies
Lake Tahoe
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Trottier
Buffalo
King Kong'
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The Cup
Welcome to NHL.com, the official site of the National Hockey LeagueBienvenue à LNH.com , le site officiel de la Ligue nationale de hockeyДобро пожаловать на NHL.com, официальный сайт Национальной хоккейной лигиTervetuloa NHL:n viralliselle nettisivustolle NHL.comiinVälkommen till NHL.com, NHL:s officiella web-sidaVítejte na NHL.com, oficiálních stránkách National Hockey LeagueVitajte na NHL.com, oficiálnych stránkach National Hockey LeagueWillkommen auf NHL.com, der offiziellen Seite der National Hockey LeagueBienvenido a NHL.com, el sitio oficial de la National Hockey LeagueBryan Trottier said he has "a gazillion" stories about his dear, late friend Clark Gillies, so many about his fellow New York Islanders legend that he hardly knows where to begin.So Trottier chooses to start on a baseball diamond in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, in the summer of 1971.A talented 15-year-old, Trottier was playing quality ball for Swift Current; Gillies, two years his senior and bound for the Houston Astros' minor-league organization, was in the starting nine for Moose Jaw."I played some left field and second base, 'Clarkie' played third base and caught," Trottier said on Tuesday from Pittsburgh, still coming to grips with the death of Gillies from cancer on Jan. 21 at age 67.Indeed, the loss of one of his best friends is so fresh that during a half-hour talk Trottier flips between present and past tense, Gillies still with him in many ways. As tight as they were with the Islanders, Trottier most cherishes their time away from the ice, two deep-rooted Saskatchewan boys bonded by family, friends, prairie community "and oh yeah, hockey, too," he says.Video: Clark Gillies Tribute Video"At 17, Clarkie was an animal, already a man," Trottier said. Clarkie hit a rope to center field for an out, then a rainmaker pop-up to the warning track, then in his third at-bat, he hit a three-run homer so hard and so far that I think it's still circling the Earth."A fine ballplayer, Trottier knew he'd never make it in that game, no matter his full toolbox, though Gillies had a pretty fair shot at it given the Astros' interest. As it turned out, each focused on hockey, together winning the Stanley Cup four times consecutively with the Islanders, from 1980-83."A year later (1972-73), I'm playing junior hockey in the Western league against Clarkie, me with Swift Current, him with Regina," Trottier said. There were guys you'd yip and yap, but Clarkie would just stand up and say, 'Let's go, boys.'Bryan Trottier (rear) and Clark Gillies in action against the Minnesota North Stars, and with Bob Nystrom and Denis Potvin for the raising of the Islanders' 1979-80 Stanley Cup championship banner. 'Kenny (Rogers) beat me to the punch recording 'The Gambler,' he always says."For Trottier, it's friendship that burns brightest with Gillies and Bossy, who's now in a fight with lung cancer."As friendships and people in my world go, Clarkie is at the very top with Mike and those guys," he said.
As said here by Dave Stubbs