Harry Neale
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Harry Neale (born March 9, 1937 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) is a color commentator for the Buffalo Sabres, paired up with Rick Jeanneret on the MSG Network and WGR. He also works for Hockey Night In Canada on the CBC. He is a former NHL and WHA coach and General Manager.
He has worked in broadcasting since 1986. That year, he was first teamed with play-by-play man Bob Cole on CBC. Together, the pair have broadcast twenty Stanley Cup Finals. During this time he also provided color commentary for locally televised Toronto Maple Leafs games. During his tenure, he was paired with play-by-play broadcasters Jim Hughson, Ken Daniels, Jiggs McDonald, and Joe Bowen. He left the Toronto telecasts after the 2006–07 season to do the Buffalo Sabres games.
[edit] Coaching career
Prior to his broadcasting career, Neale was an NHL head coach for the Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks where he was also the General Manager from 1982–83 to 1984–85. In the WHA he coached the New England Whalers and Minnesota Fighting Saints, and in the OHA's he coached the Toronto Marlboros. He was also an assistant coach for the U.S. team at the 1976 Canada Cup.
In the 1981/82 NHL season he was GM for the Canucks run to the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the New York Islanders. In the 1977/78 WHA season he coached the Whalers to the Avco Cup Finals as well only to lose to the Winnipeg Jets.
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 during the 1981–82 season, 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."
[edit] Broadcast career
As a color 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 humor he was famous for as a coach, often referring to the puck as "..bouncing like an 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 . . .". In sportscasting, he often refers to a weak goal as one with an "odor" to it. Other humorous calls include Neale describing Sean Avery as "liked about as much as a rattle snake at a picnic" and humorously commenting on Avery's outspokeness, saying "Avery's got more tongue than a lumberjacks boot".
Neale lives in East Amherst, New York.
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| Preceded by Orland Kurtenbach |
Vancouver Canucks head coach 1978–1982 |
Succeeded by Roger Neilson |
| Preceded by Jake Milford |
Vancouver Canucks General Manager 1982–1985 |
Succeeded by Jack Gordon |
| 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 |
| Preceded by Jim Lorentz |
Buffalo Sabres color commentator 2007–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
