Gilles Villemure

Joseph Hector Gilles Villemure, born May 30, 1940, is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks during the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

Villemure played one season of junior hockey with the Guelph Biltmores of the Ontario Hockey Association. He then spent ten years in the minor leagues, principally with the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League and the Baltimore Clippers and Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League. He was a standout in the minors, leading his league in goals against average three times and in shutouts five times. In each of his final two AHL seasons, 1968–69 and 1969–70, he won the Les Cunningham Award with the Bisons as the league's most valuable player. In the second of those seasons he led all goaltenders in the playoffs, backstopping the Bisons to the Calder Cup in the franchise's final season. During this period he was called up on several brief occasions by the New York Rangers.

Away from hockey, Villemure worked during the off-season as a professional harness racehorse driver. He later resided in Levittown, New York.