Hockey player, coach, mortician.
Born at Winnipeg on 15 September 1917 to Maria Littlewood (1895-1982) and George James Pike (1888-1957), he was a product of the hockey school there that was operated at the time by Lester Patrick, the coach and general manager of the NHL’s New York Rangers. He played two years of junior hockey with the Winnipeg Monarchs of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). In 1936-1937, his second campaign with the team, he centered the top forward line as the Monarchs captured both the league title and Memorial Cup.
After signing a contract with Patrick’s franchise in 1937, he spent two years with the New York Rovers, the Rangers’ minor league affiliate in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League that shared Madison Square Garden III with the parent club. He was the team captain when the Rovers won the EAHL crown in 1938-1939. He also made two appearances with the Philadelphia Ramblers of the International-American Hockey League (IAHL) that same season.
He then spent six seasons with the Rangers in the National Hockey League between 1939 and 1947. His hockey career was put on hold during the Second World War, when he attained rank of Leading Aircraftsman with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He served, and played hockey, in Winnipeg, and also while stationed at Leeming, Yorkshire, home to RCAF 427 Lion and 429 Bison heavy bomber squadrons.
He played two more seasons with the Rangers after the war. His final NHL totals were 119 points (42 goals, 77 assists) in 234 games. He then appeared in a handful of matches with the Winnipeg Nationals in 1948 and 1949 before ending his playing career. A licensed mortician in the offseason, his nickname was “the Embalmer.”
A coaching career followed. He led the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters (1949-1952), Winnipeg Warriors (1954-1959), New York Rangers (part of the 1959-1960 season), Calgary Stampeders (AHL 1961-1963), Los Angeles Blades (AHL 1963-1965), and Phoenix Roadrunners (AHL 1967-1968, 1969-1970). He was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame (1985) and posthumously into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (2019).
On 28 October 1939, he married Angeline Jeanette Vien (1920-1996) at Winnipeg and they went on to have six children.
He died at Calgary, Alberta on 1 March 2009.
Birth registration [Alfred George Pike], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [Alfred George Pike, Angeline Jeanette Vien], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Calgary Herald, 19 March 2009.
“Alfred George Pike,” Dmetrichuk-Vert Family Tree, Ancestry.
“Alf Pike,” Wikipedia.
“Stanley Cup winner headlines class of 2019 for Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame,” Global News, 22 March 2019.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 19 July 2025
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