Al MacNeil's connection to the Canadiens began well before his famous coaching stint — he played 11 NHL seasons as a defenseman (524 games total across five teams), including 61 games for Montreal in 1961–62. Promoted from assistant to head coach in December 1970 after Claude Ruel stepped down, MacNeil led an unheralded Canadiens roster on an improbable run to the 1971 Stanley Cup, upsetting the heavily favored Boston Bruins, Minnesota and Chicago. The run was nearly derailed by controversy when MacNeil benched veteran captain Henri Richard in Game 5 of the Final; Richard publicly blasted him as "the worst coach I ever played for," a firestorm serious enough that MacNeil received death threats before Richard delivered both the tying and Cup-winning goals in Game 7. MacNeil resigned about a month after winning the championship and went on to a long career as a Calgary Flames coach and NHL executive.