Al MacNeil
Biography and cause of death of Al MacNeil
Allister Wences MacNeil (September 27, 1935 – January 5, 2025) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach and executive. MacNeil played 524 games in the National Hockey League and was a four-time Stanley Cup winner. He was the first native of Atlantic Canada to serve as a head coach in the NHL. He won three Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens, first as the team’s rookie head coach in 1971, and then back-to-back championships as Director of Player Personnel in 1978 and 1979.
His last Stanley Cup was as assistant general manager of the Calgary Flames in 1989.
Al MacNeil won three Calder Cup Championships as the General Manager and Head Coach of the Montreal Canadiens’ farm team, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, in 1972, 1976 and 1977. He was twice selected as American Hockey League Coach of the Year in 1972 and 1977. MacNeil was an assistant coach of Team Canada and won the Canada Cup in 1976 and also was an assistant coach in 1981.
Al MacNeil Early life
Allister Wences “Al” MacNeil was born on September 27, 1935 in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. He grew up in the steel town and played his first hockey there. As a junior player in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, he moved to Weston, Ontario, going to high school there on a scholarship and playing with the Weston Dukes in 1953. He won back-to-back Memorial Cups with the Toronto Marlboros, in 1955, and then, as captain of the team, in 1956.
1956—57 was his first year as a professional hockey player, as he made the Leafs team and played 53 games that season for them. In 1960—61 he captained, and was an all-star defenseman for, the Eastern Professional Hockey League’s Hull-Ottawa Canadiens. His team won the league’s championship that year.
Al MacNeil NHL playing career
He played parts of eleven seasons in the National Hockey League as a defenceman with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and after the 1967 NHL Expansion, Pittsburgh Penguins.
Al MacNeil Managerial career
Between 1968 to 1970, he became a player-coach in the Montreal Canadiens’ farm team system, starting in Houston, Texas and then finishing in Montreal. After a successful debut as a minor-league coach, MacNeil became an assistant coach to Claude Ruel of the NHL Canadiens for the 1970–71 season on September 8, 1970.
Al MacNeil Montreal Canadiens
During the beginning of the 1970–71 season, the Habs struggled to win, and were in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year. Head coach Ruel resigned 23 games into the season and MacNeil took the helm on December 3, 1970. The appointment made him the first native of Atlantic Canada to serve as a head coach in the NHL.
His first game as coach went well, as the Canadiens won over the St. Louis Blues, including beating his future Calgary Flames Stanley Cup winning coach, Terry Crisp, who was a Blues centre at the time.
Canadiens general manager, Sam Pollock, bolstered the club when he swung a major trade to net top-scoring left-wing Frank Mahovlich from the Detroit Red Wings on January 13, 1971. The Canadiens rallied to qualify for the playoffs as the third seed in their division.
The Habs stunned the heavily favoured, league-leading, Boston Bruins in the opening round of the playoffs by beating them four games to three in the quarter final round. They then defeated the Minnesota North Stars in the semi-finals. Unexpectedly, they made it to the Stanley Cup finals, playing the Chicago Black Hawks, and then beating them four games to three after having been behind in this series 3–2.
Crucial to the Stanley Cup victory was MacNeil’s decision to use rookie goaltender Ken Dryden in the playoffs despite Dryden having played only six regular-season games in 1970–71. MacNeil was presumably impressed that Dryden won all these regular games, allowing only nine goals for a 1.65 goals against average (GAA). Another crucial choice was having rookie Rejean Houle shadow the Black Hawks’ star goal scorer Bobby Hull. Houle held Hull to only one even-strength goal in the finals series.
An Anglophone, MacNeil had a challenging relationship with some of the team’s francophone players, most notably Henri Richard. He was the first Canadiens coach in recent memory who could not speak French. When MacNeil benched Richard during the final series against the Black Hawks, Richard publicly criticized the coach, calling him incompetent.
In game seven at Chicago, being tied at 2–2 after the first two periods, the Canadiens scored the winning goal early in the third to take the series and the championship, with Richard scoring both the equalizer and game-winner. MacNeil and Richard hugged at the end of the game, but that did little to patch up their differences.
Al MacNeil Coaching decisions and off to Nova Scotia
When he benched Richard during the playoffs, he received death threats and had to get police protection. The death threats were taken seriously because of the politically volatile environment in Montreal only a few months after the October Crisis. Sports writers noted and praised MacNeil’s calm coolness in the wake of Richard’s comments.
After the Stanley Cup victory, there was a question of whether MacNeil would remain as the coach, especially after what seemed like a player revolt during the playoffs. He ended weeks of speculation from the press and the public when he resigned in early June as head coach of the Canadiens, with Sam Pollock replacing him with Scotty Bowman.
He stayed with the Canadiens’ organization, moving to take over as general manager and head coach of their American Hockey League farm team, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. MacNeil won three Calder Cup Championships (1972, 1976, 1977) in six years with the Voyageurs. He later returned to the Canadiens, winning two more Stanley Cups as Director of Player Personnel in 1978 and 1979. On October 10, 2013, it was announced MacNeil had been named to the AHL’s 2014 Hall of Fame class, alongside Bob Perreault, John Slaney and Bill Dineen.
Al MacNeil Atlanta/Calgary Flames
On June 7, 1979, MacNeil resigned from his position with the Canadiens to succeed Fred Creighton as the third-ever head coach of the Atlanta Flames. He remained in that capacity through the franchise’s move to Calgary. On May 31, 1982, general manager Cliff Fletcher removed MacNeil as coach, and promoted him to director of player development and professional scouting. MacNeil won his fourth Stanley Cup in 1989 as Calgary’s assistant general manager.
On December 10, 2001, MacNeil returned to head coaching duties after almost two decades when the Flames head coach at the time, Greg Gilbert, was suspended for two games for his role in a brawl in a game with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. When Gilbert was fired in the next season due to the Flames’ poor performance, MacNeil once again assumed interim head coaching duties before Darryl Sutter was hired.
Al MacNeil was involved in professional hockey for more than 60 years as a player, coach, assistant manager, and director of hockey operations.
Al MacNeil Personal life
Al MacNeil was married to Norma MacNeil (née MacSween) from New Waterford on Cape Breton Island. They had two children, a daughter Allison, and a son Allister. He had two grandsons from his daughter. His descendants are involved with professional hockey as his son is a scout for the Calgary Flames. His grandson, Jason Sparkes, was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 2022.
Al MacNeil is a member of the American Hockey Hall of Fame, the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame and the Cape Breton Sports Hall of Fame. On November 15, 2015, he was featured on a Sportsnet national broadcast as part of a tribute to Cape Bretoners that were affiliated with the NHL, on Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour. MacNeal was honoured by his hometown when Cape Breton University bestowed him with an honorary Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) degree in 2011.
Al MacNeil Death
With his family at his side, Al MacNeil died on January 5, 2025, at his home in Calgary, at the age of 89.
Source: Wikipedia