Neil Colville—Assist After Assist
Neil Colville was born in Edmonton in
1914, as the First World War raged in Europe. Both
military life and the sport of hockey would play major
roles in the life of this Hall of Fame legend.
Colville was a celebrated junior
player in Edmonton. In 1932, he was a slick-passing
forward with the Edmonton Poolers, the city’s top junior
team. It was there that Colville caught the
attention of the New York Rangers. He signed a contract
with the Blueshirts, joining a minor league affiliate
called the Crescents in 1934. In 1935-36, Colville was
promoted to the Philadelphia Ramblers, the Rangers’ top
minor league team, and he led them to an Eastern Amateur
League championship.
He made his full-season debut with
the Rangers in 1936-37; that season, he scored 10 times
and added 18 assists. In the five ensuing seasons,
Colville finished in the top 10 of the NHL scoring race
each spring. But Colville never scored more
than 20 goals in a season, for most of his points came
from his great play-making ability. In 1940, he enjoyed his greatest
moments in the game. With brother Mac, who was also in the Rangers
lineup, Colville led the Blueshirts to a first-round
playoff upset of the first-place Boston Bruins. Colville
and the Rangers would go on to play the Toronto Maple
Leafs in the 1940 Cup final. The Rangers were supposed
to have home-ice advantage in the series, but a
scheduling glitch at Madison Square Garden caused
massive problems for the home team. The circus was
scheduled for an extended run at Madison Square Gardens, and after the
Rangers won the first two games of the series at home,
they would be forced to play the rest of the series at
Maple Leaf Gardens. The Leafs won the next two games at
home, which allowed the nay-sayers to gloat that the
Rangers could indeed not win on the road. The Blueshirts responded with a valiant 2-1 double overtime
win in Game 5, and then clinched the Cup with a 3-2
overtime win in Game 6. Colville finished tied with
teammate Phil Watson at the top of the playoff scoring
race. Both finished with nine points.
In 1942, Colville left the NHL for
military duty. But Colville did not serve on the
battlefields—he served as a player. He starred for the
Ottawa Commandos team that won the 1943 Allan Cup
as the
country’s senior men’s amateur champions.
When he returned to the NHL, Colville
adapted to his new position on defence. He and his brother
were reunited as teammates—but that reunion would not
last long. Colville retired in 1949 after an outstanding
career that saw him score 99 goals and add 166 assists
in 464 games; numbers that were good enough to earn him
a spot in the Hall of Fame.
But Colville’s association work with
the Rangers wasn’t done—he took over as head coach of
the club, staying on for 93 regular-season games from
1950-51 before poor health forced him to leave the job.
He would later have half his stomach removed thanks to
ongoing ulcer problems.
In 1975, he was named to the Hall of
Fame selection committee. Nine years later, he lost a
leg to cancer and retired from that post. In 1987,
Colville passed away.
But Colville’s name is
well-remembered in British Columbia, where he settled in
his later years. The leading scorer in the British
Columbia-based Pacific International Junior Hockey
League receives the Neil Colville Trophy.
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