Former Worcester IceCat Trevor Gillies announced his retirement on Tuesday.

His announcement was made through his Instagram and Facebook accounts, thanking the coaches, teammates, family, and friends in his posts.

I have called it a career after leaving home at 15 to play junior, then 19 years pro. What a long fun ride I got blessed with. I would like to thank my Mom and Dad for teaching us kids to follow our dreams and never quit and to never listen to all the naysayers and keyboard warriors in life.

Thanks for all your sacrifices and support. To my beautiful wife and amazing kids. I love you and always cherish all our awesome memories from the game. I promise to continue to always fight for who and what I love…just in a much different way. Y’all are my world. I could have never played through the pain the last few years without knowing I was doing it for our family and so y’all could watch and enjoy the old 🚂 Dad go down the tracks and try to win a championship. Came up a little short here.

Every place was a blessing!!the highlight was getting to live out my boyhood dream of playing in the NHL with the islanders and enjoying it all together. I love you all so very much. I would like to thank all the coaches, all my teammates that I have had the honor of going to war with. I hope I made each and everyone of you feel safe. It was a blast being the big brother all these years. Some of my greatest friendships are because of the game. So many great people, amazing fans I’m blessed with. Thank you all for your love and support all these years. For getting to know the Heart and the true person and not the Wildman on the ice that had a job to do. One I took great pride in doing. Love you all. Got to travel the world. Did it for the crest on the front. PERIOD as the song goes…I did it my way. Will miss that adrenaline but got out with my health. Looking forward to being around for my family and friends and loving the new chapter. Again thank you all. Much love and respect.

– Gillies

Gillies had a short stint with the IceCats during their 2000-01 playoff run, playing in six games. Gillies played for a number of Worcester hockey rivals- notably the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Portland Pirates, Albany River Rats, among others. He last played for the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL for the past three seasons.

As an enforcer at all levels of hockey, Gillies gained a reputation as being a tough guy. He made hockey headlines for antics after taking fights a little too far, and as a result, he was suspended for multiple games at a time throughout his career.

Trevor’s career peaked through the 2009-10, 2010-12, and 2011-12 seasons, playing 57 games for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League.

Gillies was one of the last dozen IceCats to remain active as a professional hockey player. Gillies was the last IceCat to play for a team in North America as of last season. A number of former ‘Cats are active in coaching and scouting roles with teams in North America.

With his hockey career in the books, Gillies will work as a full-time business partner for MerchantPro Express, a credit card processing company.