Mike McPhee, the second oldest of six children, grew up playing minor hockey in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, on local junior B teams while attending high school in St. Peter’s. Like most 18-year olds, McPhee wasn’t sure what he wanted to do in the future, but he knew he wanted to attend university. He was confident he could parlay his athletic skills into an education.

He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York where he obtained his civil engineering degree. While playing for RPI, McPhee scored 57 goals and 61 assists for a total of 118 points in 88 games. He caught the interest of the Montreal Canadiens who drafted him 124th overall in the 1980 entry draft.

After graduation, McPhee spent the better part of two seasons with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in the American Hockey League. In 1984, he got the call from the Montreal Canadiens and went on to play for 10 years in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota/Dallas Stars.

McPhee played 744 career games scoring 200 goals and 199 assists, with a total of 399 points. He played in 134 playoff games racking up another 28 goals and 27 assists, for a total of 55 points. In 1986 McPhee won the coveted Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens. He scored three goals and four assists in 20 playoff games. “There would be nothing to rank above that. I feel fortunate to have won a Cup in Montreal. A lot of good hockey players play a whole career and don’t get one. That’s something I can look back on.”

McPhee is forever linked with one goal, one that put McPhee and teammate Brian Skrudland in the record book. “Probably the most exciting thing in my career was assisting on Brian Skrudland’s nine-second overtime goal against Calgary.” McPhee says of Montreal’s game winner in the second game of the 1986 Stanley Cup final. “That turned out to be a pretty big goal. Actually, the defenceman was Al McInnis,” referring to his fellow Cape Bretoner.

By 1993, the almost 900 regular season and playoff games has taken its toll on McPhee. Later that year, a doctor examining his injured knee found it was much worse than anyone had thought. “He found a lot of bone on bone… He said I could try a comeback, but that I had the knee of a 65-year-old man.”

With his career prematurely over, McPhee returned to school and received his MBA from the University of Dallas. After gaining his MBA, McPhee moved his family back to Nova Scotia. “We liked Dallas. But at the same time, I’ve been away from home for 17 years.” McPhee is presently building a client base with Wood Gundy. He has discovered that the competitive nature of sports is not unlike the one that exists in the business world.

On looking back on hockey McPhee says “I never expected to play in the NHL. It wasn’t until after my first year, when the scouts came to every game, that I thought I might have a chance. Even after I was drafted I never thought I’d be around for 10 years. I’m pretty pleased the way my career went”.