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Billy Reay
BillyReay
Position Centre
Shot Left
Height
Weight
5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
155 lb (70 kg)
Teams Detroit Red Wings
Montreal Canadiens
Nationality Flag of Canada Canadian
Born August 21, 1918,
Winnipeg, MB, CAN
Died September 21, 2004,
Madison, WI, USA
Pro Career 1943 – 1953


William "Billy" Reay (August 21, 1918 - September 23, 2004) was a National Hockey League hockey player and coach.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he played in the NHL for 10 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. In 479 games, he scored 105 goals and 267 points and in 63 playoff games, he scored 13 goals and 29 points. He won two Stanley Cups in 1946 and 1953, both with the Montreal Canadiens. He was an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs (1957–1959) and a head coach for the Chicago Black Hawks (1963–1977). He has won the most games for a Chicago Black Hawks coach. Although he coached the Black Hawks to three Stanley Cup finals (1965, 1971, and 1973), he was never able to win.

For his service to the Wirtz family, owners of the Black Hawks, Reay was fired with a note under his office door shortly before Christmas, 1976.

Billy Reay has been credited as the first person to raise his arms and stick in celebration after scoring a goal.

He was one of the first hockey players to win the Memorial Cup, Allan Cup, and Stanley Cup.

He died of liver cancer in Madison, Wisconsin.

Coaching Record[]

Team Year Regular Season Post Season
G W L T OTL Pts Finish Result
TOR 1957–58 70 21 38 11 - 53 6th in NHL Did Not Qualify
TOR 1958–59 20 5 12 3 - (65) 4th in NHL (fired)
CHI 1963–64 70 36 22 12 - 84 2nd in NHL Lost in First Round
CHI 1964–65 70 34 28 8 - 76 3rd in NHL Lost in Stanley Cup Finals
CHI 1965–66 70 37 25 8 - 82 2nd in NHL Lost in First Round
CHI 1966–67 70 41 17 12 - 94 1st in NHL Lost in First Round
CHI 1967–68 74 32 26 16 - 80 4th in East Lost in Second Round
CHI 1968–69 76 34 33 9 - 77 6th in East Did Not Qualify
CHI 1969–70 76 45 22 9 - 99 1st in East Lost in Second Round
CHI 1970–71 78 49 20 9 - 107 1st in West Lost in Stanley Cup Finals
CHI 1971–72 78 46 17 15 - 107 1st in West Lost in Second Round
CHI 1972–73 78 42 27 9 - 93 1st in West Lost in Stanley Cup Finals
CHI 1973–74 78 41 14 23 - 105 2nd in West Lost in Second Round
CHI 1974–75 80 37 35 8 - 82 3rd in Smythe Lost in Second Round
CHI 1975–76 80 32 30 18 - 82 1st in Smythe Lost in Second Round
CHI 1976–77 34 10 19 5 - (63) 3rd in Smythe (fired)

Awards & Achievements[]

Preceded by
Howie Meeker
Head Coaches of the Toronto Maple Leafs
1957–1959
Succeeded by
Punch Imlach
Preceded by
Rudy Pilous
Head Coaches of the Chicago Black Hawks
1964-1977
Succeeded by
Bill White
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Billy Reay. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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