Harry Neale
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Harry Neale (born March 9, 1937 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) is a colour commentator for the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and a former NHL and WHA coach and General Manager.
He has worked in broadcasting since 1986. He usually works with play-by-play commentator Bob Cole. They have worked together in twenty Stanley Cup Finals. He is also the colour commentator on the local television broadcasts of Toronto Maple Leafs games, where he is teamed with Joe Bowen.
Prior to his broadcasting career, Neale was an NHL head coach for the Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks, as well as the WHA's New England Whalers and Minnesota Fighting Saints, and the OHA's Toronto Marlboros. In the 1981/82 Season he was General Manager for the Canucks run to the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the New York Islanders. In the 1977/78 he coached the Whalers to the Avco Cup Finals as well only to lose to the Winnipeg Jets.
He was also an assistant coach for the USA team at the 1976 Canada Cup and was General Manager of the Canucks from 1982-83 to 1984-85. During his coaching career, he was known for his dry wit, which came out in comments to the media. One of his most famous quotes came when he was coaching the Canucks, when he quipped, "Last season we couldn't win at home. This season we can't win on the road. My failure as a coach is I can't think of any place else to play."
As a colour commentator, Neale has covered the 1998, 2002, and 2006 Winter Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 and 2004. He is known for the same sense of humour he was famous for as a coach such as referring to the puck as "..bounces like and Indian Rubber (lacrosse) ball", as well as for his estimations of exact distances on the ice. For example, ". . . a shot from thirty-eight feet out . . ."
Neale lives outside Buffalo, New York.
Vancouver Canucks Head Coaches |
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Laycoe • Stasiuk • McCreary • Maloney • Kurtenbach • Neale • Neilson • Laforge • Watt • McCammon • Quinn • Ley • Renney • Keenan • Crawford • Vigneault |
Detroit Red Wings Head Coaches |
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Duncan • Adams • Ivan • Skinner • Abel • Gadsby • Harkness • Barkley • J. Wilson • Garvin • Delvecchio • L. Wilson • Kromm • Lindsay • Maxner • Dea • Polano • Neale • Park • Demers • Murray • Bowman • Lewis • Babcock |
Preceded by Orland Kurtenbach |
Vancouver Canucks head coach 1978–1982 |
Succeeded by Roger Neilson |
Preceded by Roger Neilson |
Vancouver Canucks head coach 1984 |
Succeeded by Bill LaForge |
Preceded by Bill LaForge |
Vancouver Canucks head coach 1984–1985 |
Succeeded by Tom Watt |
Preceded by Nick Polano |
Detroit Red Wings head coach 1985–1986 |
Succeeded by Brad Park |
Categories: 1937 births | Living people | Canadian ice hockey coaches | Detroit Red Wings coaches | Vancouver Canucks coaches | New England Whalers coaches | Minnesota Fighting Saints coaches | Toronto Marlboros alumni | National Hockey League broadcasters | Ontario sportspeople | People from Sarnia | Toronto Maple Leafs