Doug Bentley - Early Life

Early Life

Bentley was born March 1, 1920, in Delisle, Saskatchewan. He was the fifth of six boys and one of thirteen children. His father Bill was a native of Yorkshire, England, who emigrated to the United States as a child and became a speed skating champion in North Dakota before settling in Delisle. He became mayor and helped build the town's covered skating rink. All of the Bentley children were athletes, and all six brothers played hockey.

Bill Bentley believed that all six boys could have played in the National Hockey League (NHL), though responsibilities on the family farm resulted in the eldest four boys spending the majority of their careers playing senior hockey on the Canadian Prairies. Doug was a small, slender player, weighing only 145 lbs at the peak of his career, but he was an exceptionally fast skater and his father taught him to use his speed to avoid larger opponents. He learned his trade with his brothers as they constantly played street hockey in the summers and on the ice in the winters. Bentley's father flooded a sheet of ice that was the length of a regulation NHL hockey rink but much narrower, forcing the boys to develop the ability to maintain control of the puck while making fast, hard turns to reach the net.