Neil Colville

Neil McNeil Colville (August 4, 1914 – December 26, 1987) was a professional ice hockey
Neil Colville
player. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, he played for the New York Rangers in the National
Hockey League with his brother Mac, winning the Stanley Cup in 1940.[2] Hockey Hall of Fame, 1967

Contents
Playing career
Post-playing career
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
Coaching record
See also
References
External links
Mac Colville, Neil Colville and Alex Shibicky, 1938. All
three are ranked in the 2009 book 100 Ranger
Playing career Greats.[1]
Born August 4, 1914
Colville joined the Rangers' farm team in 1934 and quickly made his way to the pros by Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1936, centreing the "Bread Line" with his brother and Alex Shibicky, where he played until Died December 26, 1987 (aged 73)
World War II. During the war, he and his brother were stationed in Ottawa and played on Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
the army's Ottawa Commandos team, winning the Allan Cup in 1942. Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)

After the war, they both returned the Rangers, this time as defencemen, the first pairs of Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
brothers to ever do so in the NHL. Neil was adept at both defence and offense, and was the Position Centre/Defence
second player to be named to All-Star Teams as both a forward and a defenseman, behind
Shot Right
Dit Clapper.
Played for New York Rangers
He retired in 1949 and became the Rangers' youngest coach a year later, but he was forced Playing career 1934–1950
to resign due to health problems halfway through his second season.

Post-playing career
In the 1950s, Colville was one of the primary founding investors in what would become Northern Television Systems, WHTV, in Whitehorse, Yukon,
Canada. Colville eventually moved from Vancouver, B.C. to Whitehorse in order to run the small four-channel station alongside Bert Wybrew. He
slept in a bunk in the studio and learned to do everything from fixing the equipment to hosting the news casts. Filling the air time without the benefit of
extensive broadcasting infrastructure was at times difficult, and the station would run footage of downtown's Main Street or do live broadcasts of a
goldfish bowl to fill the hours.[3]

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967. He died in 1987 and there is a memorial bench in his honor at the Gary Point Park in
Steveston, British Columbia.

In the 2009 book 100 Ranger Greats, the authors ranked Colville at No. 22 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's
first 82 seasons.[1]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1929–30 Edmonton Enarcos EJrHL 12 1 0 1 — — — — — —
1930–31 Edmonton Canadians EJrHL 13 2 0 2 8 — — — — —
1931–32 Edmonton Poolers EJrHL 11 7 3 10 — 4 2 1 3 0
1931–32 Edmonton Poolers M-Cup — — — — — 5 2 0 2 2
1932–33 Edmonton Athletic Club EJrHL 11 — — — 10 3 0 0 0 2
1933–34 Edmonton Athletic Club EJrHL 9 14 4 18 13 2 4 2 6 5
1933–34 Edmonton Athletic Club M-Cup — — — — — 12 15 6 21 4
1934–35 New York Crescents EAHL 21 11 35 16 8 8 4 12 2
1935–36 New York Rangers NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1935–36 Philadelphia Ramblers Can-Am 35 15 16 31 8 4 0 2 2 0
 1936–37 New York Rangers NHL 45 10 18 28 33 9 3 3 6 0
1937–38 New York Rangers NHL 45 17 19 36 11 3 0 1 1 0
1938–39 New York Rangers NHL 47 18 19 37 12 7 0 2 2 2
1939–40 New York Rangers NHL 48 19 19 38 22 12 2 7 9 18
1940–41 New York Rangers NHL 48 14 28 42 28 3 1 1 2 0
1941–42 New York Rangers NHL 48 8 25 33 37 6 0 5 5 6
1942–43 Ottawa Commandos QSHL 22 12 30 42 32 — — — — —
1942–43 Ottawa Army OCHL 12 11 12 23 6 — — — — —
1942–43 Ottawa Commandos Al-Cup — — — — — 12 14 14 28 17
1944–45 New York Rangers NHL 4 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1944–45 Winnipeg RCAF WNDHL 6 5 4 9 4 — — — — —
1944–45 Ottawa Commandos OCHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1944–45 Quebec Aces QSHL 5 1 2 3 0 7 2 5 7 4
1944–45 Quebec Aces Al-Cup — — — — — 3 0 3 3 0
1945–46 New York Rangers NHL 49 5 4 9 25 — — — — —
1946–47 New York Rangers NHL 60 4 16 20 16 — — — — —
1947–48 New York Rangers NHL 55 4 12 16 25 6 1 0 1 6
1948–49 New York Rangers NHL 14 0 5 5 2 — — — — —
1948–49 New Haven Ramblers AHL 11 0 3 3 8 — — — — —
1949–50 New Haven Ramblers AHL 17 3 4 7 13 — — — — —
NHL totals 464 99 166 265 213 46 7 19 26 32

Coaching record
Regular season Post season
Team Year
G W L T Pts Division rank Result
New York Rangers 1950–51 70 20 29 21 61 5th in NHL Missed playoffs
New York Rangers 1951–52 23 6 12 5 17 5th in NHL Fired
NHL Totals 93 26 41 26 78

See also
List of NHL players who spent their entire career with one franchise

References
1. Cohen, Russ; Halligan, John; Raider, Adam (2009). 100 Ranger Greats: Superstars, Unsung Heroes and Colorful Characters (http
s://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6860998-100-ranger-greats#bookDetails). John Wiley & Sons. p. 168. ISBN 978-0470736197.
Retrieved February 3, 2020.
2. Blevins, David (2012). The Sports Hall of Fame Encyclopedia: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Soccer (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=aB8sCV5nVaoC&q=Neil+Colville+died+1987&pg=PA193). ISBN 9780810861305.
3. From Cablecaster magazine, November 2002

External links
Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com (https://www.nhl.com/player/8445509), or Eliteprospects.com (http://w
ww.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=61420&lang=en), or Hockey-Reference.com (https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/
c/colvine01.html), or Legends of Hockey (https://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=P196702),
or The Internet Hockey Database (http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1056)

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This page was last edited on 31 July 2022, at 14:18 (UTC).

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