Punch Imlach

George "Punch" Imlach (March 15, 1918 – December 1, 1987) was a Canadian ice hockey coach and general manager, born in Toronto. He attended Riverdale Collegiate Institute and played junior hockey in the OHA for the Toronto Young Rangers from 1935 to 1938, followed by senior hockey with the Toronto Goodyears from 1938 to 1940 and the Toronto Marlboros from 1940 to 1941. During World War II he enlisted in the Canadian Army, where he coached for the first time, leading an army team in Cornwall, Ontario. After his discharge, the Detroit Red Wings invited him to training camp, but he declined, feeling he had put on too much weight.

Imlach played for the Quebec Aces of the QSHL from 1945 to 1949 and spent eleven seasons with the team, rising from player to coach, then general manager, and eventually vice-president and part-owner of the franchise.

He is best known for his association with the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom he was with from 1958 to 1969 and again from 1979 to 1981, and the Buffalo Sabres, whom he was with from 1970 to 1978. With Toronto he won the Stanley Cup four times, from 1962 to 1964 and again in 1967. Imlach is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.