Bill LaForge

Bill LaForge (September 2, 1951 - June 19, 2005) was a Canadian ice hockey head coach. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He was the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL for 20 games during the 1984-85 season before being replaced by team general manager Harry Neale. He had a 4-14-2 record.

LaForge was originally a football player. He failed a physical at the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders training camp in 1974 which put an end to that career.

He had played hockey as well. LaForge now turned to hockey coaching at the minor level in his home province of Alberta.

Some successes there had brought him to the attention of Sherry Bassin, the Oshawa Generals' General Manager in 1981 when he was looking for a new coach. LaForge was hired.

He advocated tough tactics for his team. LaForge surprisingly got the Generals into the Ontario Hockey League playoffs where he was suspended for 50 games for getting into a brawl with opposing coach Dave Dryden.

After that season he went to the Regina Pats. They posted a 48-24-0 record and went on to the final where they lost.

In 1982 he moved to the Kamloops Junior Oilers, who had been the Edmonton Oil Kings the previous season. The following season he brought the Oilers to the Western Hockey League (junior) championship and a loss in the [[Memorial Cup final,

This brought him to the Vancouver Canucks. He was fired after posting a 4-14-2 record. Part of his failure can be attributed to his being used to junior players with little understanding of professional players.

After that he coached the Hamilton Steelhawks for four seasons and then went on to coach the Guelph Storm and the Nashville Nighthawks