Ice hockey defenseman Barry MacKenzie spent his junior years with the Toronto St. Michaels Majors from 1960 through 1962, and won the Memorial Cup, given annually to the junior men’s ice hockey champions in Canada, in 1961. After a season at the University of British Columbia with the Thunderbirds, he joined the newly-founded Canadian national ice hockey team in 1963 and made an appearance at the 1964 Winter Olympics. He played in eight games and scored one goal, but a loss to the Soviet Union in the final left the team in fourth place after the tiebreaking rules were applied, although they earned World Championship bronze medals as this tournament had different tiebreaking rules. After coming home empty-handed again in 1965, the Canadians won bronze medals at the 1966 and 1967 World Championships, as well as the 1968 Winter Olympics. In the latter, MacKenzie played in seven matches and did not score any goals. Upon his return he was picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs and quickly traded to the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League, although he spent all but six games of the 1968-1969 season playing with the Minnesota South Stars of the Central Professional Hockey League. Following his brief NHL experience, he spent a year abroad with Japan’s Seibu-Tetsudo Tokyo team as a player/coach. Although he retired as a player in 1970, he returned to the country to coach the team from 1975 through 1978. Upon his arrival back in Canada, he served in various coaching and administrative capacities at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan until 2000. Since then he has worked with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, most recently as the director of player development. He was made a member of the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999.
Canada