Barney Stanley

Lore & Background

Stanley was born in Paisley, Ontario, the son of a dairy farmer. He moved west to Medicine Hat, Alberta at 17 to play hockey before settling in Edmonton. He joined the Edmonton Maritimers in 1911–12, then spent the next three seasons as both a player and coach for the Edmonton Dominions and Albertas, all of the Alberta Senior Hockey League. He turned professional in 1915, joining the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA. Stanley scored seven goals in his first five regular season contests with Vancouver, of which his first professional goal, in his first game, was assisted by Cyclone Taylor. He won the Stanley Cup with the Millionaires in 1915 as they defeated the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League for the Canadian championship. Stanley scored four goals in the third and deciding game of the series.

Stanley was a Second Team All-Star with the Millionaires in 1918 and remained with the team until the end of the 1919–20 season. He then fought to regain his amateur status so that he could take on the role of player-coach with the Edmonton Eskimos of Alberta's Big-4 League. He left the Eskimos after one year to join the Calgary Tigers and in 1921 once again turned professional as the Tigers joined the newly formed Western Canada Hockey League. He scored 26 goals in 24 games for the Tigers in 1921–22 and was named a league all-star on right wing. His rights were sold to the Regina Capitals following the season where he served as player-coach and was again named the right wing all-star. After two seasons in Regina, he returned to the Eskimos for two more. As player-coach for the Eskimos, Stanley led the team to the top record in the league in 1925–26.

Following the collapse of the WCHL in 1926, Stanley purchased the Eskimos and brought them into the newly formed Prairie Hockey League. Before the season began, however, he sold the team and joined the Winnipeg Maroons. He purchased an ownership stake in the franchise, and signed on as a defenceman and coach for the American Hockey Association team. Stanley was hired by the Chicago Black Hawks to be their manager and head coach for the 1927–28 NHL season. He managed the club for only 23 games as the team replaced him following a 4–17–2 start to the season, but not before appearing in one regular season contest as a player with the team. Stanley returned to the AHA, playing his final season of hockey with the Minneapolis Millers before retiring in 1929.

Reader's Guide

Barney Stanley's significance lies in his multifaceted career as a player, coach, manager, and executive across several early professional leagues. He won the Stanley Cup with the Vancouver Millionaires in 1915, scoring four goals in the deciding game. He was a two-time league all-star on right wing in the Western Canada Hockey League. As a coach, he led the Edmonton Eskimos to the top record in the WCHL in 1925–26 and later became the second head coach of the Chicago Black Hawks in the NHL, though his tenure lasted only 23 games. Off the ice, Stanley designed one of the sport's first hockey helmets, presented to the NHL's board of governors without interest after Chicago's Dick Irvin suffered a fractured skull. He also served as president of the Edmonton and District Hockey Association into the 1940s and was a member of the hockey committee of the Edmonton Exhibition Association when the Flyers won the Allan Cup in 1948. His induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963 recognizes his contributions as a builder and executive.