The American Hockey League is remembering Al MacNeil, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 89.
MacNeil was inducted into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame in 2014, in recognition of a career that saw him win three Calder Cup championships as head coach of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.
MacNeil spent parts of four seasons on the blue line with the Rochester Americans from 1956-60, earning spot duty with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He later played for the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL before moving into the coaching ranks in 1968.
Returning to the Canadiens organization, MacNeil was player/coach for the AHL’s Montreal Voyageurs in 1969-70, skating in 66 games and guiding the first-year squad to a league-best 43-15-14 record. He was brought up to the parent club as an assistant coach in 1970-71 and was promoted to head coach mid-year, piloting the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup championship that spring.
After the Voyageurs moved to Halifax in the offseason, MacNeil, a Nova Scotia native, was appointed head coach of the AHL club. In 1971-72, he led the Vees to a 41-21-14 record and their first Calder Cup championship, earning the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as the league’s outstanding coach. Nova Scotia returned to the Finals in 1973 and qualified for the playoffs again in 1974 and 1975 under MacNeil’s direction.
MacNeil’s Voyageurs posted two of the greatest back-to-back seasons in AHL history in 1975-76 and 1976-77, combining for 100 regular-season wins and capturing consecutive Calder Cups. MacNeil, who won his second Pieri Award in 1976, returned to Montreal as the Canadiens’ director of player personnel and won two more Stanley Cups in 1978 and 1979 – giving him six league championships in nine seasons. He joined the Atlanta Flames as head coach in 1979-80 and was assistant general manager of Calgary’s Stanley Cup winning team in 1989.
With a 304-149-78 record in his seven seasons as an AHL head coach, MacNeil owns the highest winning percentage (.646) in league history. He is one of only seven coaches ever to win as many as three Calder Cups, and one of nine men ever to coach championship teams in both the AHL and the NHL. Players who skated under MacNeil’s tutelage in the AHL include Hockey Hall of Fame members Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey, Steve Shutt and Guy Lapointe.
