Roy Forbes got his start in ice hockey with the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Amateur Hockey League in 1939 and moved up to their junior squad the following year. His career was interrupted in 1942 when he signed up with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and served during World War II. At the end of the conflict, he joined the Swift Current Indians of the Southern Saskatchewan Senior B Hockey League, but was soon recruited to the RCAF squad that was to represent Canada at the 1948 Winter Olympics. The Canadians won the gold medal and, although he did not play in any of the games, Forbes received a medal with the rest of his team. Forbes remained with the RCAF Team, now playing as part of the Eastern Canada Senior Hockey League, through 1951, although he also had a stint with the Ottawa Army squad. He retired from active competition after the season. In 2001 his team was named Canada’s greatest military athletes of the past century.
Canada