MacNeil dies at 89, won Stanley Cup 3 times with Canadiens as coach, executive

Al MacNeil, who rode turbulent waves to coach the Montreal Canadiens to the 1971 Stanley Cup championship in a great upset, died Sunday surrounded by family in a Calgary hospital.

He was 89.

The first native of Atlantic Canada to coach an NHL team, the product of Sydney, Nova Scotia, made his way to coaching following a 524-game playing career from 1956-68, beginning with the Toronto Maple Leafs and continuing with the Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins.

MacNeil never won the Stanley Cup as a player, but his name was tapped into the trophy four times, 1971 with the Canadiens; in 1978 and 1979 with Montreal as director of player personnel; and finally with the Calgary Flames as assistant general manager in 1989.

"For the last 70 years, Al MacNeil's impact on our game has been profound, both on and off the ice," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. "First as a player, then as a coach, and finally as an executive, Al was the consummate professional who conducted himself with humility and grace.

Coach Al MacNeil behind the Montreal Canadiens bench during a 1971 game at the Montreal Forum.

"During his 524 games as a player in the NHL, he made his mark as a physical defenseman for five franchises, primarily during the Original Six era. In his post-playing career, Al was a key part of four Stanley Cup champions.

"Upon taking over as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens midway through the 1970-71 season, he led the Club to perhaps the most unexpected of their 24 Stanley Cups. He won two more Cups with the Canadiens as director of player personnel before joining the Atlanta Flames as head coach.

"Al stayed with the franchise during its move to Calgary, where he became a pillar of the community. He was respected and beloved in his adopted hometown by everyone who was fortunate enough to cross his path -- fans, players, media, and countless members of the Flames organization who he helped to mentor.

"The National Hockey League mourns his passing, and we send our deepest condolences to his wife Norma, son Allister, daughter Allison, two grandchildren, and the entire Flames organization."

MacNeil had a distinguished off-ice career well beyond the NHL. He won the American Hockey League's Calder Cup as coach and general manager of the Canadiens' Nova Scotia affiliate in 1972, 1976 and 1977, was voted AHL coach of the year in 1972 and 1977, and won the 1976 Canada Cup tournament for his native country as an assistant coach under Scotty Bowman.

Defenseman Al MacNeil carries the puck past Toronto goalie Ed Chadwick during a game against the New York Rangers at Maple Leaf Gardens.

MacNeil was 304-149-78 in six seasons of coaching in the AHL, a .646 winning percentage that's the best in league history. He is one of only six men to win as many as three Calder Cup titles, and one of six ever to coach championship teams in both the NHL and AHL.

MacNeil left the Canadiens organization in 1979 to coach the Atlanta Flames. He remained in that job when the franchise moved to Calgary in 1980, behind the bench for the first two seasons in Alberta. He'd move into a player development and scouting role, earning his fourth and final Stanley Cup title in 1989, and returned to coach the Flames on an interim basis in 2002-03 between Greg Gilbert and Darryl Sutter.

As a player, MacNeil was a dependable, hard-rock defenseman who wasn't noted for his offense, a fact about which he often made light.

After winning the Memorial Cup with the Toronto Marlboros in 1955 and 1956, the latter year as captain, he had 92 points (17 goals, 75 assists) in his 524 NHL games, and four points (all assists) in 37 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

With the Black Hawks in 1965-66, MacNeil trailed goalie Glenn Hall in the team scoring "race" midway through the schedule, no assists to Hall's two.

Chicago defenseman Al MacNeil and goalie Glenn Hall keep an eye on Toronto’s Red Kelly, Frank Mahovlich over Hall’s shoulder, during a 1964 game at Maple Leaf Gardens.

"I reminded Al of this often during the season," Hall joked about his friend. "Al said, 'I'll catch you if I have a good second half and stay healthy.'

"At the end of the year, I have two assists and Al has one, so Al announces, 'I know how that happened. Hall played all of our power-plays.'"

Born Allister Wences MacNeil on Sept. 27, 1935, MacNeil hung up his playing skates to take a role in 1969-70 with the Canadiens' AHL affiliate, the Montreal Voyageurs.

From Boston on Monday, legendary Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden spoke of MacNeil with great fondness, remembering a man he knew for almost seven decades and for whom he won the Stanley Cup in 1971.

"I think the first time I met Al was in an autograph signing line at (Toronto-suburban) Islington Public School when I was 8 years old, maybe 9," Dryden said. "Al was captain of Marlies. I got his autograph about five times in my autograph book that was my treasure for years and years. I still have it."

Dryden was a freshman at Cornell University in 1965-66 the next time their paths crossed, the goalie and his Illinois-native roommate travelling to Chicago at Thanksgiving. Dryden's late brother, Dave, was the Black Hawks' backup goalie to Glenn Hall.

Three years later, Dryden and MacNeil played together on Canada's national squad, teammates for a September 1969 European tour. MacNeil was 34, his NHL career finished.

"Even in Chicago in 1965-66, Al was kind of hanging on to his playing career for dear life," Dryden said, laughing. "He was never a great skater, not exactly an offensive threat, but he survived his years in the NHL by being smart and a fierce competitor. He was always dedicated, committed, one of the first to spend a lot of time training off ice. …

"All of his NHL years, except the last couple, it was a six-team League. Als had captained the Marlies for the 1956 Memorial Cup win, a team that was loaded with future NHL players. He had a bearing and presence and impact about him."

Al MacNeil poses for a photo with Toronto coach Howie Meeker on Jan. 4, 1957 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Dryden recalled MacNeil, not the most mobile of defensemen, on international European rinks that were 15 feet wider than an NHL sheet.

"That big rink did Al no favors," he said brightly. "He had a big move, which I think he used it in the NHL but really needed to use in international hockey. With a straight blade wood stick, he had the uncanny ability from our defensive zone to lob the puck, loop it backhanded, into the neutral zone without enough steam to go for icing."

Said Dryden with another laugh: "Even if he shot it forehand as hard as he could, he couldn't ice the puck.

"This is how Al survived the last couple years as a playing coach, getting the puck by the net and lofting it to center ice and having it plop down. Everybody has their own special skill. For Guy Lapointe (the future Canadiens star defenseman who was on that European touring team), he could skate like the wind. For Al, it was a backhand flip shot.

Al MacNeil as a member of the 1963-64 Chicago Black Hawks, and as captain of the 1956 major-junior Toronto Marlboros, winners of the Memorial Cup.

"Al played in that tournament as a veteran guy who knew the game. We were trying to become competitive against the Soviets, Czechs and Swedes. Al was there to show his clear commitment and work ethic to the rest of it."

Dryden and MacNeil connected again in Montreal during 1970-71 training camp, the goalie setting into his professional career with the Montreal Voyageurs and MacNeil a Canadiens assistant under Claude Ruel. MacNeil would be named coach in early December when Ruel stepped down.

Combining McGill University law studies with Voyageurs goaltending, Dryden played about 30 consecutive games for the farm team before being summoned to the Canadiens to work with Rogie Vachon and Phil Myre.

Watching mostly from the press box, Dryden finally got his chance late in the season, MacNeil giving a look at all three goalies with the playoffs looming and likely a first-round matchup against the defending champion, heavily favored Boston Bruins.

The 1970-71 Stanley Cup-champion Montreal Canadiens. Bottom row, from left coach Al MacNeil, John Ferguson, GM Sam Pollock, president David Molson, Jean Beliveau, VP William Molson, VP Peter Molson, Henri Richard, assistant GM Ron Caron. Second row: Rogie Vachon, Bobby Sheehan, Claude Larose, Marc Tardif, J.C. Tremblay, Rejean Houle, Jacques Lemaire, Yvan Cournoyer. Third row: Frank Mahovlich, Leon Rochefort, Phil Roberto, Ken Dryden, Terry Harper, Gilles Lapointe, Phil Myre. Top row: trainer Yvon Belanger, Larry Pleau, Peter Mahovlich, Pierre Bouchard, Jacques Laperriere, Serge Savard, trainer Phillipe Langlois, trainer Eddy Palchak.

"Al and I were just playing it by ear," said Dryden, who won all six of his regular-season games on his way to playing all 20 playoff games, winning the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs the season before he won the Calder Trophy voted as the NHL's top rookie.

After a meeting with his three goalies to map out the final run to the postseason, MacNeil pulled Dryden aside and told him "We have a plan," without elaboration. It was something Dryden says he needed to hear.

The Canadiens stunned the Bruins in seven games, knocked off the Minnesota North Stars in six then defeated the Black Hawks in seven to win the Stanley Cup.

A firestorm raged in Montreal among fans and the media after Game 5 of the final round, MacNeil having benched veteran Henri Richard, named captain the following year upon the retirement of Jean Beliveau, during a 2-0 loss, putting Chicago within one win of the championship.

His pride stung and famous Richard blood boiling, the fiercely competitive center called MacNeil "the worst coach I've ever played for." The coach didn't take it personally, even if many others did. Soon came the death threats and around-the-clock police protection at his home.

Richard would apologize for his outburst, the damage still discussed to this day. He would take a regular shift in Games 6 and 7, scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals in Game 7 to clinch the championship.

Having been moved into the coaching post on an interim basis, MacNeil stepped down a month after having won the Cup, carried around Chicago Stadium ice on the shoulders of Pierre Bouchard and Marc Tardif. Scotty Bowman was named to the job, winning the Cup five times between 1973-79.

The 1963-64 Chicago Black Hawks. Front row, from left: Denis DeJordy, Bobby Hull, owner James Norris, GM Tommy Ivan, president Arthur Wirtz, captain Pierre Pilote, Glenn Hall. Second row: trainer Nick Garen, Wayne Hillman, alternate captain Bill Hay, Ab McDonald, Elmer Vasko, Eric Nesterenko, Howie Young, Al MacNeil, head coach Billy Reay. Top row: equipment manager Art Lariviere, Chico Maki, Murray Balfour, Reg Fleming, Ron Murphy, Murray Hall, Stan Mikita, Ken Wharram, Johnny McKenzie, VP Michael Wirtz.

"Everyone was thrilled that we had won," Dryden recalled. "It was a great thing for everybody -- Jean Beliveau's last game and winning a championship that was never going to be his again; all the Cups that Jean had won (nine to that point), this was one he wasn't going to win. But it happened.

"When you win that way, you're thrilled for yourself, but also for the person next to you. There's so much thrill to be passed around, to be shared. The one thing with Al is that it was different. He was really happy to win for himself, for the Canadiens, for the players. But I had never before had a coach who I sensed was genuinely happy for me … It was so clear to me that this is how Al felt. It was really something special."

MacNeil left Montreal with his head high, accepting the job of general manager and coach of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs when the Canadiens moved their farm team to Halifax, a personal homecoming to the Maritimes.

It was there in 1971-72 that a raw-boned teenager named Larry Robinson learned life lessons as a first-year pro.

"Al was probably one of the most influential people, with Claude Ruel, in pointing my career in the right direction," Robinson said Monday from Florida.

"Al was a pretty tough customer when he played. After the Canadiens' 1971 training camp, when I went to the Voyageurs to play for him in Halifax, he brought me into his office and said, 'Listen, either you change the way that you play because of your size, play a little bit tougher, get a little meaner, you're not going to go anywhere in the NHL.'

"Basically, that's kind of where my career kind of turned around. I became a different kind of player. Not a fighter… I made myself more intimidating in other ways, in terms of being more physical and playing that kind of game.

A limited-edition early 1972 Al MacNeil table-hockey game that was marketed widely in Canada’s Atlantic provinces after the Sydney, Nova Scotia native had coached the Montreal Canadiens to the 1971 Stanley Cup championship.

"I don't think Al was one of the biggest guys on the ice, but I've been told that pound for pound he was one of the toughest. Typical East Coaster. Look at a lot of them from back in the day and they were tough as nails."

Robinson wishes he'd had one more opportunity to visit MacNeil, to tell him the impact he'd had on his career.

"My wife, Jeannette, and I always made a point of thanking Al for what he did for us," he said. "I was 19, married, and we already had a child when we went to Halifax. I didn't make that much in the minors, we scraped by. Al was very generous and really looked after us.

"We became pretty close when I went up to the big team and later in my career. When I went to New Jersey (to coach), any time we went to Calgary, where Al retired, at some point during my visits, we'd have a little chat, talk about things.

"I have nothing but fond memories of him. He had a really dry sense of humor. He loved to laugh. Never a long face, a happy-go-lucky guy."

MacNeil has been enshrined by the AHL, Nova Scotia Sports, Cape Breton Sports and American Hockey Halls of Fame. In 2011, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree was bestowed upon him by Cape Breton University.

MacNeil is survived by his wife of 58 years, Norma, son Allister, a scout for the Flames, and his daughter Allison and son-in-law Paul Sparkes. He has two grandsons: Jack Sparkes, a sixth-round pick (No. 180) of the Los Angeles Kings in the 2022 NHL Draft, and Ben Sparkes, a university student in Nova Scotia who plays Junior B hockey.

Top photo: Coach Al MacNeil is carried around Chicago Stadium ice on May 18, 1971 by defenseman Pierre Bouchard (26) and forward Marc Tardif (11), forward Rejean Houle at left, following the Montreal Canadiens’ Stanley Cup victory.