Don Gallinger - Career

Career

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 NHL Hall of Famer, Teeder Kennedy. The two were successful in both hockey and football.

He was the second youngest player in NHL history when he broke into the NHL with Boston at age 17, playing on the "Sprout Line" of with Bill Shill and Bep Guidolin. The Bruins had lost their high-scoring line of Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart to the 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.

Gallinger missed a large part of the 1943–44 and all of the 1944–45 season serving with the Canadian Military. 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 Teeder Kennedy and Don 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 enterting the military Gallinger had scored 13 goals in just 23 games with Boston. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, graduating at the top of his air gunners' class. He was discharged 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 too small.

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 3rd place and lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens.