Heart Of A Lion

The long, strange journey of hockey’s most misunderstood goalie.

- Stephen Laroche

Gilles Gratton may have only spent five seasons playing pro hockey in the 1970s, but he left an indelible impact on the game as one of its most memorable and colorful characters. The reality, however, is that he was a reluctant hero who quickly left the sport on his own terms.

Raised in LaSalle, Quebec, along with his hockey-playing brother, Norm, Gratton was a promising net prospect in the late 1960s. A fan of Roger Crozier, Terry Sawchuk, and Johnny Bower, he made an unconventional decision to come to Ontario to further his career.

“I didn’t play my junior B year because I had two concussions. There were six teams in those days, so we weren’t thinking about having a career. To me, it was not a big deal. I would have just stopped playing hockey, but in the summer of 1969, the Boston scout came to my house and he said, ‘I have a contract for you with Oshawa.’

“I didn’t know what to do because I was so dizzy from my concussions. I was not feeling well. I had headaches every day and stuff like that. I talked to Dan Bouchard, he said to me, ‘Jinx, you can do it. I’ll train you and I’m sure you can do it.’ and I thought to myself, ‘this is crazy!’ I accepted and signed the contract and I get to camp and there’s 12 goalies there and I think it’s unfair because these guys are coming to camp and I’m already on the team.”