4-time Stanley Cup Champion, first maritime born NHL head coach

Al MacNeil, a native of Sydney, Nova Scotia, forged a remarkable sixty year professional hockey career as a rugged NHL defenseman, a Stanley Cup winning rookie Head Coach of the Montreal Canadiens in 1971, and a long-time NHL executive. A two-time winner of the Memorial Cup as a player, he’s hoisted the Calder Cup three times as the GM and Head Coach of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, won the 1976 Canada Cup, and has had his name etched four times onto the Stanley Cup.
 
Following his junior hockey career with the Toronto Marlboros, where he won back-to-back Memorial Cups in 1955 and 1956 (as team captain), MacNeil began his professional playing career.  After a rookie season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Al spent two years between Toronto and the AHL’s Rochester Americans.  In 1960-61, he captained the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens of the EPHL and was named the league’s Best Defenceman.   A hard-hitting defenseman, Al played 524 NHL games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
 
In 1968, he was encouraged to join the coaching ranks by legendary Montreal Canadiens General Manager, Sam Pollock. For the next two seasons, MacNeil cut his teeth serving as a player-coach for the Houston Apollos and the Montreal Voyageurs, a demanding job that accelerated his transition from player to coach. In 1970, he was hired as the Assistant Coach of the Montreal Canadiens. When Claude Ruel stepped down in December of that year, MacNeil was promoted to the job of Head Coach of the Canadiens. In the midst of a political firestorm and much controversy, Al MacNeil emerged as the rookie Head Coach of the 1971 Stanley Cup Champions.
 
The Stanley Cup win also gave MacNeil the honour of coaching Bobby Orr and a team of superstars to a win in the NHL All-Star Game the following season. After a lengthy discussion with his wife Norma, they decided to leave Montreal and accept a position as the General Manager and Head Coach of the American Hockey League’s Nova Scotia Voyageurs. From behind the bench, Al MacNeil led the “Vees” to three Calder Cup Championships in 1972, 1976 and 1977.  In six seasons with the Voyageurs, MacNeil became a two-time winner of the Louis A. R. Pieri Award, as the American Hockey League Coach of the Year and still owns the highest winning percentage (.646) in league history. In 1976 and 1981, Al served as Scotty Bowman’s Assistant Coach for Team Canada, and was thrilled to win the Canada Cup in 1976.
 
After tremendous success running their top farm club, MacNeil returned to the Montreal Canadiens as their Director of Player Personnel where, in 1978 and 1979, he was awarded two more Stanley Cup rings. From there, Al and his family moved south where he became the last Head Coach of the Atlanta Flames. The Flames moved to Calgary in 1980, where MacNeil coached for two more seasons, before becoming the Assistant General Manager and eventually winning his fourth Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989. Al has held a variety of executive positions with the Flames since then and, on three separate occasions, he returned behind the bench to help the team (once as an Assistant Coach and twice serving as Interim Head Coach).  He continues to work as a consultant for the Calgary Flames.
 
Al MacNeil was the first Maritimer to be a Head Coach in the NHL. In 1980, he was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame and in 1998 he was inducted into the Cape Breton Sports Hall of Fame.  In the summer of 2011, Al was honored to be awarded a Doctorate of Laws from Cape Breton University and have a scholarship created in his name.  MacNeil added to his impressive list of accolades when he was inducted into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame in 2014.
 
Al MacNeil currently resides in Calgary, Alberta with his wife Norma. They have two children, Allison and Allister and he has two wonderful grandsons, Jack and Ben.