An Ottawa native, a Corporal in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and a member of their hockey team, Irving “Irv” Taylor was the coach of Canada’s gold medal-winning ice hockey team at the 1948 Winter Olympics. A forward, he played only during the scoreless Czechoslovakia-Canada game. Previously he had played junior hockey in Perth, Ontario, with the Ottawa Junior Senators and Saint Malachys from 1936 through 1938, and the Perth Blue Rings in 1938-1939. At the senior level he played with the Toronto RCAF in the 1940-1941 season before his career was interrupted by World War II. He suited up with the Ottawa #17 Equipment Depot in 1944-1945, and joined the Ottawa RCAF and the Arnprior Rams in 1945. He took the year off in 1946 and then rejoined the Flyers for the Olympics and the subsequent season, although he played more games with the Upper Ottawa Valley Hockey League’s Renfrew Lions that year. As a member of the Olympic ice hockey champions of 1948 he was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2008.
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