A long time ice hockey player and defenseman from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Roy Henkel was a member of the Winnipeg Hockey Club for many years and won the Allan Cup, given annually to the men’s amateur senior ice hockey champions in Canada, in 1931. It was this victory that gave the team an opportunity to play at the 1932 Winter Olympics, where he and his team took home the gold medal. Henkel played all six matches in the tournament, but only scored two goals. Through 1935 he was still playing for Winnipeg with the Winnipeg Monarchs ice hockey club, who played in the Maritime Senior Hockey League. In 1935 he won gold in the World Championships with the team. He eventually retired to Vancouver, where he died in 1981. As a member of the 1931 champion Winnipeg Hockey Club, he was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Although his surname was spelled “Hinkel” in the official Olympic reports and most contemporary news sources, his listing in the British Columbia death index and his obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press refer to him as “Roy Henkel”. Additionally, in his father Samuel Henkel’s obituary in the same publication, Roy is mentioned as “Roy Henkel, who played with the Winnipeg hockey team which gained the Olympic championship in 1932”.
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