TORONTO — When Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip played Maple Leaf Gardens or the Air Canada Centre and got to “Fifty Mission Cap,” Bill Barilko’s No. 5 banner would be spotlighted in the rafters.

That song, underlining the Kingston band’s strong ties to hockey as fans, players and storytellers, became a huge part of The Hip’s allure. It also restored Barilko, the 24-year-old defenceman who died months after scoring a Stanley Cup-winning overtime goal for the Leafs in 1951, to a prominent place in team history.

“Gord Downie’s lyrics and the song ‘Fifty Mission Cap’ are the main reason Bill is still remembered in 2017,” said Kevin Shea, author of “Without A Trace,” detailing Barilko’s short, eventful life before a fishing-trip plane crash soon after his goal.

“Bill could have become an asterisk, a great Cup-winning goal, but one that was in 1951. He’s not an honoured member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame, just a good player. Yet his legend lives on because the Hip song became ubiquitous across Canada.”

Part of the album “Fully Completely,” that song came out in January 1993 and was a favourite of Leafs coach Pat Burns, new behind the bench and, at that point, leading a team resurgence with new classic logo sweaters at a time when the club’s past was being revived after the rocky 1980s. Barilko’s banner and that of Ace Bailey were raised in 1992 and were seen by some as a good luck charm.

Burns, who played guitar as a hobby, asked that “Fifty Mission Cap” become a Gardens warm-up staple; it remains part of the game-night playlist to this day. In 2001, Downie presented the Leafs with the hand-written lyrics to “Fifty Mission Cap,” which were placed in the dressing room.

Defenceman Morgan Rielly said the Leafs picked out a couple of Hip tunes to play Wednesday morning in their dressing room.

“Very unfortunate. He was a huge inspiration to all of Canada,” the 23-year-old Rielly said. “We have a lot of fans of him in this room. All over Toronto, all over Canada and the world, losing him is tough. I like ‘New Orleans Is Sinking,’ ‘Ahead By A Century’ … they’re all classics. I’ve heard the Bill Barilko story a few times.”

Connor Brown said he was a fan and recalls his parents played a lot of Hip albums in the family home.

Shea, who now works for the Hall of Fame, was also associated with The Hip from his music industry days and confirmed their passion for hockey often competed with their day jobs. Downie’s godfather was longtime Boston Bruins president and Team Canada ’72 coach Harry Sinden, a former Kingston resident.

“I worked fairly extensively when they were signed to RCA and mostly with “Road Apples,” their second full album, so we really got to know each other well,” Shea said. “I was at all the shows, and we sat and talked hockey extensively. With Gord, we never talked music ever. He only wanted to talk hockey, about my game, his road hockey games, his beer league games. He knew I was a big Leaf fan, I knew he was a big Boston fan and we’d go at each other good-natured.

“Sinden had been coaching in the EPHL [Eastern Professional Hockey League] with Kingston, lived near the family at that point and sold real estate as well. Their families got to know each other. According to Gord, he and Harry weren’t especially close, but there was a real connection there with the Bruins.”

The Hip sometimes played shinny around Toronto when working in the area, sometimes outdoor games at east-end Withrow Park, where good friends Jim Cuddy and Blue Rodeo also skated.

“I think everybody in The Hip liked a different NHL team,” Shea said. “[Bassist] Gord Sinclair, I recall was a Chicago fan, but because Toronto was close, he got to a lot of their games with his dad. [Guitarist] Rob Baker was with Toronto, I think, but they were all fans of the game, collected cards and played road hockey. I think Gord was the best of the bunch and was a great goalie.”

— Postmedia Network