Forward David “Dave” Neville’s ice hockey career centered, for much of his life, in Montreal, although he got his start in his hometown with the Hamilton Pats in 1929. After three games with the Arnprior Greenshirts in Ontario during the 1931-1932 season, he made the move to the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association’s Montreal Hockey Club. He got his first taste of international play with the team when he faced off against an early incarnation of the Atlantic City Sea Gulls in an exhibition game with the Tri State Hockey League, which only lasted one year. When the team changed its name to the Montreal Royals in 1932, and then moved into the Quebec Senior Hockey League in 1933, Neville moved with them. When the ice hockey selection committee for the 1936 Winter Olympics chose the Port Arthur Bearcats to represent Canada at the Olympic tournament, however, the Royals protested and demanded that some of their members be sent as well. Neville, as well as teammates Ralph Saint Germain and Hugh Farquharson, were chosen to join the Olympic delegation. There, he played in eight games, scored just as many goals, and took home a silver medal. After the Olympics, he stayed with the Royals for two more seasons, before playing four games with the Toronto Goodyears from 1938-1939 and retiring from active play.
Canada