Born November 17th, 1912 in Cudworth near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, Archie Stinchcombe went on to achieve almost every honour possible in British ice hockey.
He burst onto the ice hockey scene in 1935, when in his first season, playing for Streatham he was selected as the right-winger to the All Star B-team.
In 1936, he was a member of the Great Britain team that swept all before them in winning the European and World Championship titles together with the Olympic Games gold medal. He continued his national team exploits playing in the ’37 and ’38 European Championship winning squads, and went on to captain his country in the 1948 Olympic Games campaign.
After the Second World War, he played his domestic hockey with both the Wembley Lions and Wembley Monarchs and was one of the first members of the post-war 100 Goal Club.
In 1948, Archie Stinchcombe moved to the Midlands joining the Nottingham Panthers as coach, but continued to play when needed to in emergencies up until 1952. In all, he spent seven years with the team in the Lace City, steering them to their first English National Championship title in the 1950-51 and repeating the act in the 1953-54 season. On both occasions he was unlucky only to be voted as Coach to the All Star B-teams.
During his playing career, Archie Stinchcombe was described as being a ‘rugged player with a powerful shot, who rarely got penalised.’ Through out his career, he was used as a specialist penalty killer and had the rare distinction to complete a full season without visiting the penalty box himself.
Without doubt though, the single most impressive fact about his playing career is that in a span which covered seventeen years and included those memorable days representing his country, Archie Stinchcombe achieved it all with the sight of only one eye, the other having been damaged in a boyhood accident.
Archie Stinchcombe died at the age of 82 on November 4th, 1994 at his home in Nottingham.
Compiled with research, provided by Phil Drackett.
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