Former Canadian player and head coach Al MacNeil, who won the Stanley Cup in his only season behind the Habs bench, died on Sunday. He was 89 years old.
Posted at 4:15 p.m.
The news was announced Monday by the Calgary Flames, another organization in which he worked for several years in different functions.
“The hockey world lost an icon today with the passing of Al MacNeil,” Flames president of hockey operations Don Maloney said in a statement. “Chopper” was a Stanley Cup and Calder Cup champion, but most importantly, he was our friend and mentor. We will sincerely miss his company and our conversations. »
“Over the past 70 years, Al MacNeil has had a profound impact on our sport, both on and off the ice. First as a player, then as a coach and finally as a manager, Al was a professional who conducted himself with humility and grace,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
A tough defender, MacNeil played 524 games in the NHL from 1955 to 1968 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins. He scored 17 goals and collected 75 assists, in addition to 617 penalty minutes.
In 1968, the general manager of the Canadiens at the time, Sam Pollock, recruited him to work as a player-coach with the Houston Apollos of the Central Hockey League, then with the Montreal Voyageurs in the League. American the following season.
-He made his debut behind an NHL bench when he was named assistant coach of the Canadiens during the 1970-1971 season. During the campaign, he was promoted to head coach, replacing Claude Ruel. He would later lead the team to win the Stanley Cup against the Blackhawks.
MacNeil’s reign behind the CH bench, however, would be short-lived. At the end of the fifth match of the final, Henri Richard publicly criticized him for not playing him often enough, describing him as “incompetent”. MacNeil would be replaced by Scotty Bowman for the 1971-72 season.
He nevertheless remains with the organization as director of player personnel. As such, he won two other Stanley Cups with the Canadian, in 1978 and 1979.
MacNeil was then named head coach of the Atlanta Flames for the 1979-1980 season. He would follow the club in its move to Calgary the following year, and would remain linked to it in various capacities over the decades that followed. He notably won the Stanley Cup for a fourth time in 1989 as assistant general manager of the Flames.
During the 2002-2003 season, still with the Flames, he returned one last time behind the bench for 11 games as interim head coach.
Al MacNeil is survived by his wife Norma, to whom he was married for 58 years, his son Allister and his daughter Allison.
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