Hay was born in Listowel, Ontario but moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba at an early age. He and childhood friendDick Irvin were teammates on the Winnipeg Monarchs when they played junior, but Hay left hockey for three years to serve with the Canadian Forestry Corps during World War I. He had also followed in the footsteps of his older brother Reginald "Reg" Hay who was also a hockey player and a member of the 1915 Winnipeg Monarchs senior team which had captured the Allan Cup as senior amateur champions of Canada. Before the Hay brothers both joined the military ranks they played together on the Monarchs senior team in the Division A of the Manitoba Hockey League during the 1915–16 season.
Playing career
Returning from the war, Hay settled in Regina, Saskatchewan and played two seasons with the Regina Victorias of the Saskatchewan Senior Hockey League between 1919 and 1921. He then joined the Regina Capitals and began his professional career in the WCHL. In four years in Regina, he was named a league First-Team All-Star three times. Hay remained with the team after it relocated to become the Portland Rosebuds in 1925, and was named an All-Star for the fourth time in 1925–26. When the league collapsed in 1926, the Rosebuds were sold in their entirety to the NHL and became the Chicago Black Hawks. Hay joined the team in Chicago for the 1926–27 NHL season, and on November 17, 1926 scored the first goal in the history of the Black Hawks. He completed the season in Chicago but was traded, along with Percy Traub, to the Detroit Cougars in exchange for $15,000 after its conclusion. Hay played his finest NHL season in 1927–28, leading the team in goals and points, and was named to an unofficial all-star team by the league's managers. He played seven seasons in the Detroit organization, and retired one game into the 1933–34 season to take over as the coach of their minor league team, the Detroit Olympics, whom he spent three years with before leaving the game. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958, and has been honoured by the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. He was considered one of the best stickhandlers in the game during his time in the NHL.
Off the ice
Following his hockey career, Hay worked in insurance until the outbreak of World War II. He served as a flight-lieutenant and instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force until the conclusion of the war, after which he returned to his insurance business. He retired in 1965 and lived quietly until his death in Stratford, Ontario ten years later.
