About the Author

 

The youngest official to ever work an NHL game, Ron’s career got off to a record-setting start on October 1960, at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Ron refereed during the NHL’s most significant transition period beginning with the NHL expansion of 1967, when the League doubled overnight from its cozy “original six” to a modern twelve-team league, now stretching from Philadelphia in the east to Los Angeles and Oakland, California, in the west.

When Ron retired in 1986, he was one of the premier officials of the game and the longest serving referee in NHL history. His 1,034th game surpassed Bruce Hood’s record. He finished his twenty-six year professional career (twenty-three in the NHL) with a then record-setting 1,067 games as a big league referee, and close to 2,000 games as both a professional referee and linesman.

At the time of his retirement, he was called “as honest and straightforward as they come,” and “a hard-working guy,” by former NHL coach Don Cherry, now CBC’s Coach’s Corner analyst.

Ron resides in Brampton, Ontario, with his wife Barb. His two children, Lisa and Brian, (both of whom were better hockey players than their dad) have grown up. Ron now has a lovely granddaughter, Nyah, to skate with. A real estate broker with Royal LePage Innovators Realty, in Brampton, Ontario, Ron continues to referee benefit hockey games and to play in charity golf events.