Matt Pavelich (born March 12, 1934) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired former

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

ice-hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ho ...

linesman, the first to ever be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. After his career as an NHL linesman, Pavelich served as Supervisor of Officials as well as the Director of Player Discipline for the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

Early career

He began officiating when he was fourteen, working minor hockey games in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and by the time he was twenty years old was referee-in-chief of the Northern Michigan Intermediate League. Pavelich worked in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

in the 1955–56 season but at age twenty-two, he made his

début on October 11, 1956. His older brother

Marty Pavelich Martin Nicholas Pavelich (born November 6, 1927) is a Canadian former ice hockey left winger. He played ten seasons for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League from 1947 until 1957. Pavelich is the last surviving member of the Red W ...

had been a player with the Detroit Red Wings since 1947 and when the younger Pavelich joined the NHL in 1956, it marked the first time in NHL history that there had been a player/official brother combination.

Career in the NHL

He retired after 23 years and 1,727 regular season games, second only to Neil Armstrong. He also officiated 245 playoff games, second only to John D'Amico. He also worked seven Stanley Cup Finals. After that Pavelich became the NHL's supervisor of officials for referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison. In 1987, Pavelich was the first linesman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. On January 24, 1979, Pavelich refereed the first period of the game between the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

. This was because the scheduled referee for the game Bruce Hood, was unable to make it to the Capital Centre in time, arriving late and taking over the referee chores at the start of the second period. Pavelich is in his ninth season with the

. He served the league as a Supervisor of Officials as well as the Director of Player Discipline for the first half of the 1998–99 season.

References

External links

* 1934 births Canadian people of Croatian descent Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Ontario Living people National Hockey League officials {{Canada-icehockey-bio-stubBiographical information from https://nhlofficials.com/

Early career

Career in the NHL

See also

References

External links