Height: 5-11
Weight: 170
Shoot: L
Born: 24 Apr 1941, Belleville ON (d. 1997)
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1972-73 | Cleveland | |||||||||||
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Penalty Killing No Exile for Dilly • by Rich Passan • The Hockey Spectator • January 19, 1973
To be relegated to the role of penalty killer on a hockey team would rankle most players. But not Bob Dillabough of the Cleveland Crusaders. Dilly, as he is called by his teammates, is a veteran of 11 years of hockey warfare, most of them as a penalty killer, and has turned penalty Killing into an art. So much of an art, in fact, that the C's bave the World Hockey Association's best record for keeping the opponent off the scoreboard with a teammate in the penalty box. Dilly has scored four of the club's five shorthanded goals, too. He has just five altogether. Dillabough, who learned his craft from such teachers as Ed Westfall and Ron Stewart during his playing days with the Boston Bruins in the mid-1960s, takes pride in helping play a vital role in Cleveland's success this season. "Pride," he says, "that's half the battle, If you don't have that, you don't belong in this game. Another thing is attitude. This is the first season I've killed penalties exclusively." "I had to make up my mind that I was going to be a penalty killer and go out and do the job," he continues. "I want to be the best at it. That's the kind of an attitude I must have." Dilly broke into the lineup on a regular basis in early November when injuries hit the Crusaders hard. The 3l-year-old native of Belleville, Ont., responded with six points in six games, then found himself back on the bench when the hurts returned. No complaints. "Cleveland told me at the beginning of the year they wanted me to kill penalties," he says. "I'm not disappointed. As long as they're happy, I'm happy. Naturally, I'd be happier playing on a regular line, but I'm not complaining." That's the kind of professional attitude Cleveland Coach Bill Needham likes. Needham and Dillabough are no strangers, having played against each other in the American Hockey League for many seasons. Needham does not hide his admiration for Diblabough's penalty-killing ability. "He's the key man," Needham says. "For this unit to get as many breakaways as it does is really something. These guys have to rate as one of the best penalty-killing units I've ever seen." "You know, it's just as important — if not more so — to stop a goal against you when you're a man short than to score a goal when you have a power play. Any goal against you hurts more than scoring one," says the C's bench boss. The key to Dillabough's penalty-killing talents is pressure. "I don't like letting a team come out of their end easily," he says. "I like keeping tho pressure on them and checking them even if they have the man advantage. I try to hound them and make them pass the puck because the more times you paes the puck, the more chances they can make a mistake with it." The hardest part of his role is mentally preparing for a game. "It's tougher now because on some nights, you might get on only once or twice. On other nights you're not even off the ice. I also try to keep myself in half decent shape." "It's tough when you're not playing that much to begin with. In practice, you have to get it into your head that you have to work a little harder than most of the guys because you're not getting as much ice time." Killing penalties is as easy as you make it, according to Dilly. "I find it easy because I'm not standing still or stopping and starting very often," he says, "When you're floating around, it's easier." Dilly has worked with different partners this season. Initially, he was paired with Grant Erickson and when the little left winger was promoted to regular status, Doug Brindley stepped in and performed as though everything was the same. "It's not that hard to adjust," Dillabough says, "although it is easter to kill penalties with the same fellow. All you have to know is what the other guy is going to do.” Dillabough, who says Minnesota and Houston are the toughest teams in the WHA against which to kill penalties, quickly potnts out that penalty Killing is not a one or two-man venture. "The forwards get the recognition," he says, "but without the two defensemen and the guy in the net, they're going to score goals againat you." Dilly retired last season after having played just 15 games with the Tidewater Wings of the AHL. "It was more personal than anything elss," he explains. "My argument was with management. We couldn't get along, so there was no sense in staying there." But retirement was never definite. "I always liked hockey and when this year came along and I had the chance to play in the WHA, there was never any hesitation," he says. There are several power play unite in the WHA that wish he hadn't changed his mind. |
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