Dutch Hiller, who won a Stanley Cup with the Rangers and the Canadiens, passed away Saturday at 90.

Cup-winner Dutch Hiller dead at 90
By Mike Wyman | NHL.com correspondent
Nov. 18, 2005

Two-time Stanley Cup winner Wilbert "Dutch" Hiller, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 90 on Saturday, Nov. 12 at a hospital near his Montrose, California home.

Born in Kitchener, (then Berlin) Ontario, on May 11, 1915, young Wilbert Hiller played junior hockey in his hometown and later in Sudbury, a mining centre in Northern Ontario.

He turned pro at 21 in 1936, signing on with the Harringay Greyhounds, a London-based team in the British National League. After a 22-goal campaign overseas Hiller returned to North America and caught on with the New York Rovers for the 1937-38 season.

Playing in Madison Square Garden and given the opportunity to show his speed, Hiller came to the attention of the New York Rangers and he was signed towards the end of the schedule, finishing the year with the big club.

The next fall Hiller's quickness and skill on the left wing complemented his linemates, the hardnosed Phil Watson and Bryan Hextall. Playing in such tough company, the name Wilbert just didn't seem to be a good fit so Hiller acquired the nickname "Dutch".

Hiller's second full season with the Rangers, 1939-40, ended with a Stanley cup victory. An assist on Hextall's Cup clinching goal highlighted his six playoff points. It would be 54 years before the Rangers' next triumph.

Alf Pike was not only a teammate on the victorious 1940 team. He was a roommate of Hillers as well. He remembers Dutch fondly.

"He was a very good teammate and a very good hockey player. Dutch was quiet, he wasn't a loudmouth or anything like that," Pike said. "He was a very quick starter. He was flying the moment he stepped on the ice."

Picked up on waivers by the Detroit following the 1941-42 season, Hiller was on the move after only a handful of games with the Red Wings, this time to Boston. A year later he was on the move again. He joined the Canadiens in time for the 1942-43 season and would remain on the team's books for the next four years. Not all of it was spent in the Habs uniform however.

Hiller was loaned to the Rangers, a practice no longer in fashion among NHL teams, and suited up for the Blueshirts for the entire 1942-43 season, scoring a career high 40 points along the way.

Back in Montreal for the 44-45 season, Hiller recorded his only 20-goal year. In the spring of 1946 he earned the right to have his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup for a second time. His four goals in the playoffs that year were fourth best on the team. Only Hall of Famers Toe Blake, Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard lit the light more often than Hiller did.

Bobby Fillion, now 85, was a Montreal teammate. His memories of Hiller are also fond ones.

"He was a very nice man, a good teammate. It was a pleasure to spend time with him, whether it was going to a movie or doing something else. I played on a line with he and Buddy O'Connor," Fillion recalled

"He was a good skater. Leo Gravelle and I were pretty good too and we'd have races at practice from time to time. Dutch won his share."

Traded to Toronto in the fall of 1946 Hiller was assigned to their AHL affiliate in Pittsburgh. After a year with the Hornets he retired from professional hockey and after a year of senior play with the Kitchener Dutchmen of the Ontario Hockey Association, hung up his skates for good and went west to coach the Los Angeles Monarchs of the Pacific Coast Hockey League.

After two years behind the bench Hiller retired from hockey and embarked on a successful career in pharmaceutical sales with the Los Angeles Wholesale Drug Company. He also found time to serve as goal judge in the early years of the Los Angeles Kings. He retired from his second career and spent 15 years in Thornhill, a suburb of Toronto before moving back to Southern California eight years ago to join his daughter, Pat Ornelas.

Hiller had been in good health until about six months ago. He golfed regularly, walked almost daily and started every morning with a group of friends at a local Burger King. Hiller's breakfast buddies, the ROMEOs, an acronym for Retired Old Men Eating Out, were the guys that he chose to share the Stanley Cup with when he was offered the chance to spend a day with the silverware in September.

Pat Ornelas remembers her father promoting respect for one's body and the benefits of not abusing it in any manner. She remembers another attribute that she tries to emulate in he daily life.

A fan of virtually all sports, Hiller kept a particular eye on his favorite, even to the very end.

"The evening he died, we put on the hockey game on his TV, the one that he's had for years and years," Ornelas said. "It was the best picture we'd ever got. As soon as the ambulance came to pick him up, the TV went out. The tube is blown."

Hiller is survived by his daughters, Pat Ornelas and Rosemarie Anderson, two grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Over his NHL career Dutch Hiller appeared in 383 regular-season games, scoring 91 times and assisting on 113 goals. He recorded nine goals and seven assists in 48 playoff games.