Alex Archer

Alexander "Sandy" Archer (May 1, 1908 – June 15, 1979) was an ice hockey right winger who played in the English National League for the Wembley Lions. He is best remembered as a member of the British National Team which won gold at the 1936 Winter Olympics.



Archer was born in West Ham, London to Scottish parents. They moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, when he was 3 years old. It was in Manitoba that Archer learned to play ice hockey and football. As well as being a Manitoban All-Star twice for ice hockey, Archer also played for the Manitoban All-Stars against a touring side from the Football Association of Wales in 1929 and against a touring side from the Scottish Football Association in 1935.

In 1993, Archer was inducted to the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame with the rest of the 1936 Olympic British ice hockey squad who had not previously been inducted.

Archer returned to England to join the Wembley Lions for the 1935–36 season. He played for the Lions for the next five seasons scoring a total of 82 goals and 77 assists. Archer was also selected to the All-star A Team in 1938, 1939 and 1940.

Due to a fractured skull Archer's playing career came to an end in 1945 and he became a coach – first for Wembley and then for Nottingham Panthers and Murrayfield Racers. As a successful coach he was selected to coach the All-star B Team in 1947 and then again in 1948.

Archer was selected to play for the Great Britain team at the 1936 Winter Olympics. However, this led to a complaint from the Canadian Hockey Association to the International Ice Hockey Federation as they claimed he had not been released from the Association. Initially upheld by the IIHF, the complaint was suspended for the duration of the tournament and subsequently overturned. He went on to play in all seven of the games of the tournament and scored two goals.

Archer won two further medals with the GB team, winning silver medals at the 1937 and 1938 World Championships. Archer retired from ice hockey in 1945 after he received a fractured skull in a game for GB against Sweden.

Archer played 24 times for GB, scoring 12 goals and 12 assists.