William Speechly

This is William Speechly, the British goaltender at the 1928 Olympics and 1930 World Championships. 

William was born in Pilot Mound, Manitoba, Canada. His mother was an educator from London, England and his father was a coroner. The family moved to Canada in 1901 and would raise three children, starting with William in 1906. The family moved to Winnipeg in 1916.

Education was always key in the Speechly household. William graduated from the University of Manitoba before moving to England to study Ancient Greek and Roman literature at Cambridge. 

It was during this time that Speechly became a noted hockey player. He grew up playing the game in Canada, where he was okay. But in Britain he was one of the better players, and was invited to play for the national team in time for the 1928 Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The national team was largely made up of Canadians, though Speechly would share the net with John Rogers who was actually born in Egypt!

The British team placed 4th in the 1928 Olympics, just out of the medals. Speechly played in 3 of the seven games, including the game against heavily favored Canada. Britain surrendered 14 goals while never scoring themselves. Some reports said Canada fired over 100 shots on poor Speechly.

The tall and lanky goalie continued to play at Cambridge and made one more appearance in a Great Britain sweater at the 1930 World Championships. Statistics are incomplete for this tournament, but Speechly was in net for a 4-2 loss to Germany that eliminated the Brits. They ultimately finished in 10th place. 

That seems to have been the end of Speechly's hockey days. Upon graduation he moved to the United States to study at Harvard University and Trinity College.

World War II came along, disrupting everyone's life including Speechly's. He joined the Canadian Infantry Corps and was commissioned in the Royal Winnipeg Rifles in 1941. By the next year was rose in rank to Lieutenant and was part of the Canadian efforts in the Normandy invasion. He would get seriously wounded on October 8th, 1944, not getting discharged from hospital until 1946. 

Speechly settled in Winnipeg and became a geography teacher at Gordon Bell High School 

He passed away at the age of 76 in July, 1982.