Bill Barilko

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| name =

| image = Bill Barilko 1945 (cropped).jpg

| image_size = 180px

| caption = Barilko in 1945

| position = Defence

| shoots = Right

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 11

| weight_lb = 180

| played_for = Hollywood Wolves (PCHL)
Toronto Maple Leafs

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|3|25|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Timmins, Ontario, Canada

| death_date = {{circa|{{death date and age|1951|8|26|1927|3|25|mf=y}}}}

| death_place = Unorganized Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada

| career_start = 1945

| career_end = 1951

}}

William "Bashin' Bill" Barilko (March 25, 1927 – {{circa|August 26, 1951}}) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played his entire National Hockey League career for the Toronto Maple Leafs.{{cite web|url=http://www.shevchenkofoundation.com/news_02.html |title=What are some Canadian stories that have not been told or potentially could be told? |publisher=Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko |access-date=2007-08-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929074559/http://www.shevchenkofoundation.com/news_02.html |archive-date=2007-09-29 }}{{cite web|url=http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=tea_alu_bbariko |title=Toronto Maple Leafs Team Alumni Bios: Bill Barilko |publisher=Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment |access-date=2007-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818164453/http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=tea_alu_bbariko |archive-date=18 August 2007 |url-status=dead }} Over five seasons, Barilko won the Stanley Cup four times in 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1951. Barilko died in August 1951 in a floatplane 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" by The Tragically Hip.

Personal life

Barilko was of Ukrainian descent and had a brother, Alex, and sister, Anne.{{cite news |last=Hornby |first=Lance |date=April 20, 2011 |title=The legend of Bill Barilko |url=http://www.torontosun.com/2011/04/20/the-legend-of-bill-barilko |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110422181754/http://www.torontosun.com/2011/04/20/the-legend-of-bill-barilko |archive-date=April 22, 2011 |access-date=April 20, 2011 |work=The Toronto Sun}} He was engaged to Louise Hastings.{{Cite web |date=Apr 21, 2021 |title=Transcript: Barilko and the Leafs' Most Iconic Goal |url=https://www.tvo.org/transcript/2656699/barilko-and-the-leafs-most-iconic-goal |website=tvo.org}}

Professional career

In February 1947, Bill Barilko was called up to the Toronto Maple Leafs from the PCHL's Hollywood Wolves and played for Toronto until his death.{{cite web|url=http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=12737 |title=Maple Leafs History: 1940s |publisher=Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment |access-date=2007-08-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818022838/http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=12737 |archive-date=2007-08-18 }} He was assigned sweater #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 Stanley Cup champions on four occasions: 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1951.{{cite web |url=http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=12738 |title=Maple Leafs History: 1950s |publisher=Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment |access-date=2007-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818021902/http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=12738 |archive-date=18 August 2007 |url-status=dead }} The last goal ever scored by Barilko was in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens' netminder Gerry McNeil. The goal was the overtime game-winning goal in Game 5 of the 1951 Stanley Cup Finals (April 21, 1951).

Disappearance and death

On August 26, 1951, Barilko joined his dentist, Henry Hudson, on a flight aboard Hudson's Fairchild 24 floatplane to Rupert House in northern Quebec for a weekend fishing trip.{{cite news |date=2001-05-01 |title=Leafs pay tribute to Barilko |url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/leafs-pay-tribute-to-barilko-1.278317 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029102108/https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/leafs-pay-tribute-to-barilko-1.278317 |archive-date=29 October 2017 |access-date=22 September 2024 |publisher=CBC Sports}}{{cite news |last=Vyhna |first=Carola |date=July 1, 2017 |title=The 11-year mystery of Leafs' 'Bashin' Bill Barilko' |url=https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/once-upon-a-city-archives/2017/06/01/the-11-year-mystery-of-leafs-bashin-bill-barilko.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628030617/https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/once-upon-a-city-archives/2017/06/01/the-11-year-mystery-of-leafs-bashin-bill-barilko.html |archive-date=June 28, 2023 |access-date=December 4, 2017 |newspaper=Toronto Star}} On the return trip to Porcupine Lake, the single-engine plane disappeared and its passengers remained missing.{{cite news |title=Barilko's plane finally arrives home |url=https://lfpress.com/sports/hockey/2011/10/20/18855171.html |first=Ken |last=Pagan |newspaper=London Free Press |date=October 20, 2011 |access-date=December 4, 2017 |archive-date=December 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205042034/http://www.lfpress.com/sports/hockey/2011/10/20/18855171.html |url-status=dead }} Eleven years later, in June 1962, helicopter pilot Gary Fields discovered the wreckage of the planeVictims of Aviation Accidents or Incidents in Canada: Cal Jones, Billy Joe Booth, Jonathan Mann, Brice Herbert Goldsborough, Bill Barilko, {{ISBN|978-1-155-40830-9}} about {{convert|100|km|mi}} north of Cochrane, Ontario,{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_23_223/ai_54868463 |title=Bashin' Bill |publisher=The Sporting News |date=1999-06-07 |access-date=2007-08-01 | first=Todd | last=Fitzpatrick}}{{cite news|url=http://www.gazette.uwo.ca/1999/May/28/Sports3.htm |title=Millennium Moment: Fifty Mission Cap |publisher=University of Western Ontario Gazette |date=1999-05-28 |access-date=2007-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912071955/http://www.gazette.uwo.ca/1999/May/28/Sports3.htm |archive-date=12 September 2007 |url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite news |url=http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-41-175-988-10/on_this_day/sports/bill_barilko |title=Bashing Bill Barilko is Missing |publisher=CBC |access-date=2007-08-01 |page=Did you know}}{{cite web |url=http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=12739 |title=Maple Leafs History: 1960s |publisher=Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment |access-date=2007-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818162437/http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=12739 |archive-date=18 August 2007 |url-status=dead }}

Barilko is buried in Timmins, Ontario, Canada, at the Timmins Memorial Cemetery.

"Fifty Mission Cap"

The 1993 song "Fifty Mission Cap" by The Tragically Hip 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;[http://www.torontosun.com/2017/10/18/the-late-gord-downie-helped-us-remember-bill-barilko "The late Gord Downie helped us remember Bill Barilko"]. Toronto Sun, 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's lyrics to the song in their private players' lounge.[https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/2017/10/18/leafs-mourn-inspiration-downie.html "Leafs mourn ‘huge inspiration’ Downie"]. Toronto Star, October 18, 2017. Whenever the band played the Air Canada Centre, 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.[http://dailyhive.com/toronto/maple-leafs-gord-downie-tribute-bill-barilko "Maple Leafs honour Gord Downie with unique 50 Mission Cap tribute"]. Daily Hive, October 19, 2017.

Honours

Barilko played in the 1947, 1948 and 1949 NHL All-Star Game, scoring a goal in the 1949 game.

Barilko won four Stanley Cups 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.[https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/tsn-original-the-mission~1041346 "TSN Original: The Mission"]. The Sports Network. The film received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Sports Feature Segment at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018.