Allister Wences MacNeil (born September 27, 1935) is a former

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

player and coach. He was the first native of

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundla ...

to serve as a head coach in the NHL.

Career

He played parts of eleven seasons in the

as a rugged defenceman with the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

and

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

. Upon retiring as a player, MacNeil turned to coaching with the

Montreal Voyageurs Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the lea ...

, top

farm club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

of the Canadiens, for the 1969–70 season. After a successful debut, MacNeil became an assistant coach to

Claude Ruel Claude Ruel (September 12, 1938 – February 9, 2015) was a professional ice hockey Coach (ice hockey), coach for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ruel grew up playing hockey in Sherbrooke. He was considered to be ...

of the NHL Canadiens for the 1970–71 season.

Montreal Canadiens

During that season, the Habs struggled for a good portion of the season, at one point in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year—something that hadn't happened since they missed the playoffs three years in a row from 1919 to 1922. Ruel resigned 23 games into the season and MacNeil took the helm; meanwhile, the club swung a major trade to net top scoring left wing

Frank Mahovlich Francis William Mahovlich CM (born January 10, 1938) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and a former Liberal Senator in the Canadian Senate. He played on six Stanley Cup-winning teams and is an inductee of the Hockey Hall of Fa ...

from the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and are ...

. The Canadiens rallied to qualify for the playoffs as third seed in their division, then MacNeil led the team to an unexpected

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

championship. The Habs stunned the heavily favoured

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making ...

in the opening round of the playoffs, and then defeated the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

and

, winning the latter series after having been behind 3–2. Crucial to the Stanley Cup victory was MacNeil's decision to use rookie goaltender

Ken Dryden Kenneth Wayne Dryden (born August 8, 1947) is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was a Liber ...

in the playoffs despite Dryden having played only six regular-season games in 1970–71. MacNeil was presumably impressed that Dryden won all these games, allowing only nine goals (1.65 GAA). Another crucial choice was having rookie Rejean Houle mark the Black Hawks' goalscorer

Bobby Hull Robert Marvin Hull OC (born January 3, 1939) is a Canadian former ice hockey player who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His blonde hair, skating speed, end-to-end rushes, and ability to shoot the puck at very high velo ...

. Houle was nicknamed the "shadow of Bobby Hull" as Hull managed to score only one even-strength goal in the series. Unfortunately, MacNeil had a frosty relationship with most of the team's francophone players, most notably

Henri Richard Joseph Henri Richard (February 29, 1936 – March 6, 2020) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played centre with the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1955 to 1975. He was nicknamed "Pocket Rocket" aft ...

. He was the first Canadiens coach in recent memory who couldn't speak French at all. When MacNeil benched Richard during the final series against the Black Hawks, Richard publicly criticised the coach, calling him incompetent. In game seven held 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. Winning the Cup, however, was not enough to save MacNeil's job; he was demoted to head coach of the Canadiens'

affiliate, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, while the fluently bilingual

Scotty Bowman William Scott Bowman, OC (born September 18, 1933) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) head coach. He holds the record for most wins in league history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup playoffs and ...

succeeded him as head coach of the Habs. MacNeil won three

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its curr ...

Championships (1972, 1976, 1977) in six years with the Voyageurs. On October 10, 2013, it was announced MacNeil had been named to the AHL's 2014 Hall of Fame class, alongside

Bob Perreault Joseph Robert Michel Perreault (January 28, 1931 – September 10, 1980) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 31 games in the National Hockey League and 1 game in the World Hockey Association between 1955 and 1973. He played wi ...

John Slaney John G. Slaney (born February 7, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He is an assistant coach for the Tucson Roadrunners. He was formerly the assistant coach of the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League (AHL). ...

and

Bill Dineen William Patrick "Foxy" Dineen (September 18, 1932 – December 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and head coach. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Black Hawks between 1953 ...

. He later returned to the Canadiens winning two more Stanley Cups as Director of Player Personnel in 1978 and 1979.

Atlanta/Calgary Flames

On June 7, 1979, MacNeil resigned from his position with the Canadiens to succeed

Fred Creighton Fred Creighton (June 24, 1930 in Port Arthur, Ontario – September 28, 2011) was a Canadian ice hockey centre and coach. Creighton is best known for his time as an NHL head coach. Creighton grew up in rural Manitoba. After completing his journ ...

as the third-ever head coach of the

Atlanta Flames The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...

. He remained in that capacity through the franchise's move to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

and up until his promotion to director of player development and professional scouting on May 31, 1982."Flames fire head coach," ''Boca Raton'' (FL) ''News'', Tuesday, June 1, 1982.
/ref> 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 Gregory Scott Gilbert (born January 22, 1962) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. Gilbert played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) before retiring to become a coach. Gilbert is a former head coach of the ...

, was suspended for a period of two games for his role in a brawl in a game with the

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Mighty may refer to: * ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album) * ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album) * ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film *'' The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film * ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title * ...

. 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 Darryl John Sutter (born August 19, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current head coach of the Calgary Flames. He is one of seven Sutter brothers, six of whom made the NHL ( Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich, and ...

was hired. MacNeil has been involved in professional hockey for more than 50 years as a player, coach, assistant manager and director of hockey operations. Al MacNeil is married, he has two children, daughter Allison and son Allister, and two grandsons from his daughter.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macneil, Al 1935 births Living people Atlanta Flames coaches Calgary Flames coaches Calgary Flames executives Calgary Flames scouts Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian people of Scottish descent Chicago Blackhawks players Hull-Ottawa Canadiens players Ice hockey people from Nova Scotia Montreal Canadiens coaches Montreal Canadiens players New York Rangers players People from Sydney, Nova Scotia Pittsburgh Penguins players Sportspeople from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Stanley Cup champions Stanley Cup championship-winning head coaches Toronto Maple Leafs players Toronto Marlboros players