Gilmour has come full circle

In two weeks, Doug Gilmour will have his image and jersey number raised to the rafters at the Air Canada Centre.

It will be a chance for the former Maple Leafs captain to look back fondly upon some of his best days playing the sport at a time, really, when his life now is all about new beginnings.

A new relationship with plans to marry for a third time. A new baby. A new and challenging job. A new home, albeit a very familiar one.

"I feel like I've come full circle, right back where I started," said Gilmour.

While still very much a Toronto hockey icon, Gilmour sold his home in the city last year to radio talk show host Bob McCown after splitting from his second wife, Amy. In mid-November, he quit an assistant head coaching job with the AHL Marlies to take over the head coaching post with the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs, heeding an SOS from his former junior coach, Larry Mavety.

"When (Kingston) asked me if I wanted the job last summer I said no," said Gilmour. "Time went on, and then (Mavety) called me and said: `I need you.'"

At the time, the Frontenacs were 5-13-4-1. Since then, under Gilmour, they've won just four of 22 games, sparking suggestions from some that Gilmour had bitten off a little too much and wouldn't be staying beyond this season.

"No way. I'm coming back next year," said Gilmour.

"I know what we need. For me, it's unfinished business. I can't leave it this way."

He now lives most of the time at his lakeside cottage in Kingston, five doors down from where he grew up. He shares the house with his fiancée, Sonja, and the couple's 3-month-old daughter, Victoria.

With sons Jake and Tyson living with Amy in Toronto, he treks back and forth along the 401 every weekend, leaving Sunday afternoons after Kingston home games and heading back on Tuesday mornings.

"It's been good ... the weather hasn't been too bad," joked Gilmour.

After retiring from play in 2003 he dabbled with scouting, player development and then coaching in the minors for the Leafs, but found none to truly be his calling.

"I have to have passion for what I'm doing," he said. "I'm not just here to fill holes. I needed to move on to something else."

Now 45, he admits taking on the junior post hasn't been easy.

"I didn't know the team, I didn't know the league," he said. "It's been a tough learning curve. I've enjoyed it, as much as it has been painful at times to see the players so frustrated. They all want to take the next step. I'm here to teach these kids how to work."

His daughter from his first marriage, Madison, lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., with her partner, Detroit Red Wings prospect Evan McGrath.

All four of his children will be on hand Jan.31 for Doug Gilmour Night at the ACC, along with his parents, Doug and Dolly, his sisters, Debbie and Donna, and possibly his brother, Dave.

Oh yes, and the entire Frontenacs team will also be there.

"I got them all tickets up in the nosebleeds," Gilmour laughed.

He was coaching the night former teammate Wendel Clark had his No.17 honoured earlier this season and can't quite imagine how it will feel to stand on the ice and watch his No.93 raised.

"It's probably the biggest thing to happen to me, even though winning the Stanley Cup was important," he said.

"I almost want to videotape it myself."

He was, of course, an unforgettable hockey hero in Toronto who defied the limitations of his size to nearly lift the team to a Cup on the basis of his indomitable will.

He'll be honoured in a city that wonders when the likes of him will be seen here again.