Evan Weiner at NHL.com reports that former Rangers goaltender Gilles Villemure was the last NHL player to participate in two sports as he was also harness racehorse driver...Villemure, who played for the Rangers in 1970s, on how he made it work...
"I did that in the summertime and played hockey in the wintertime. It was fun," Villemure said. "I raced all over the place, Montreal, Roosevelt, Yonkers, the Meadowlands. You need timing, you need quickness because when you live at the gate in harness racing, you have to time the gate, when you leave from behind the gate, if you have reflexes then you can get out of the gate quick. If you don't have the reflexes, then you lose a couple of steps and as a goaltender you need reflexes, of course. You have to make the right move at the right time."
Villemure adds that Rangers head coach and general manager Emile Francis had no idea that he was a two-sport athlete until "The Cat" decided to attend a night of racing on Long Island.
...Bo Jackson and Dion Sanders have nothing on Villemure.
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