William "Bashin' Bill" Barilko (March 25, 1927 – ) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

player who played his entire

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

career for the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

. Over five seasons, Barilko won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

four times in 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1951. Barilko died in August 1951 in a

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, m ...

crash during a fishing trip to Quebec. Barilko's #5 was retired by the Leafs. He was the subject of the 1993 single "

Fifty Mission Cap "Fifty Mission Cap" is a song by Canadian rock group The Tragically Hip. It was released in January 1993 as the second single from the band's third full-length album, ''Fully Completely''. It was first played in front of a live concert audience at ...

" by

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

Personal life

Barilko was of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

descent and had a brother, Alex, and sister, Anne. He was engaged to Louise Hastings.

Professional career

In February 1947, Bill Barilko was called up to the Toronto Maple Leafs from the

PCHL The Pacific Coast Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in several incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952. PCHL 1928–1931 The first ...

's Hollywood Wolves and played for Toronto until his death. He was assigned

sweater A sweater (North American English) or pullover, also called a jumper (British English and Australian English), ...

#21 when he debuted for the Leafs. He changed to #19 for the 1948-49 and 1949-50 seasons. The #5 (which was retired by the Leafs) was worn by Barilko for only one season, 1950-51. During that span of five seasons, Barilko and the Toronto Maple Leafs were

champions on four occasions: 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951. The last goal ever scored by Barilko was in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens' netminder

Gerry McNeil Gerald George McNeil (April 17, 1926 – June 17, 2004) was a professional ice hockey goaltender who won three Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens between 1947 and 1956. With the Canadiens he won the Stanley Cup in 1953. Career McNeil first ...

. The goal was the overtime game winning goal in Game 5 of the

1951 Stanley Cup Final The 1951 Stanley Cup Finals was contested by the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs won the series 4–1, with all five games going into overtime. It was the Toronto franchise's ninth Stanley Cup win and the last in a ...

(April 21, 1951).

Disappearance and death

On August 26, 1951, Barilko joined his

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofacial c ...

, Henry Hudson, on a flight aboard Hudson's

Fairchild 24 The Fairchild Model 24, also called the Fairchild Model 24 Argus and UC-61 Forwarder, is a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft designed by the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in the 1930s. It was adopted by the United ...

floatplane to Rupert House in northern Quebec for a weekend fishing trip. On the return trip to

Porcupine Lake ''Porcupine Lake'' is a 2017 Canadian drama film written, produced, and directed by Ingrid Veninger. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The film had received positive revie ...

, the single-engine plane disappeared and its passengers remained missing. Eleven years later, on June 6, 1962, helicopter pilot Gary Fields discovered the wreckage of the plane about north of

Cochrane, Ontario Cochrane is a town in northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is located east of Kapuskasing, northeast of Timmins, south of Moosonee, and north of Iroquois Falls. It is about a one-hour drive from Timmins, the major city of the region. It is the seat ...

, about 56 kilometres (35 miles) off course. The cause of the crash was deemed to have been a combination of pilot inexperience, poor weather and overloaded cargo. Barilko is buried in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

, Ontario, Canada, at the Timmins Memorial Cemetery.

"Fifty Mission Cap"

The 1993 song "

" by

is about Barilko's death and the Leafs' subsequent Stanley Cup drought. The song has been credited as singlehandedly reviving Barilko's fame after he had lapsed into semi-obscurity;"The late Gord Downie helped us remember Bill Barilko"
''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Postmedia Place in ...

'', October 18, 2017. the song remains a staple part of the Leafs' warm-up playlist at every home game, and the Leafs have a framed, handwritten copy of

Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its form ...

's lyrics to the song in their private players' lounge. Whenever the band played the

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena (French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Ra ...

, Barilko's retired-number banner was always left in place during the concert, and when Downie died on October 17, 2017, the team incorporated Barilko's banner into its Downie tribute.

Honours

Barilko played in the

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

and

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...

, scoring a goal in the 1949 game. Barilko won four

s with the Maple Leafs in 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1951. Until October 15, 2016, Barilko's #5 was one of only two numbers retired by the Maple Leafs ( Ace Bailey's #6 was the other). Barilko's story was published in the 1988 book ''Overtime, Overdue: The Bill Barilko Story'', by John Melady, and the 2004 book ''Barilko — Without A Trace'', by Kevin Shea. In 2017, TSN aired the short documentary film ''The Mission'', profiling a project to recover the remaining wreckage of Barilko's plane; the film took its title from "Fifty Mission Cap", and it thematically touched on the song's role in Barilko's story."TSN Original: The Mission"

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...

. The film received a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...

nomination for Best Sports Feature Segment at the

6th Canadian Screen Awards The 6th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 11, 2018, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2017.

in 2018.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Ron Boyd wreckage discovery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barilko, Bill 1927 births 1951 deaths Accidental deaths in Ontario Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Formerly missing people Hollywood Wolves players Ice hockey people from Ontario Missing person cases in Canada National Hockey League players with retired numbers Sportspeople from Timmins Stanley Cup champions Toronto Maple Leafs players Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1951 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Canada