Wallis "Wally" Harris (born November 23, 1935) is a Canadian 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 ...

referee whose career spanned for 39 years including 17 as an NHL on ice official, 3 as the NHL's first Director of Officiating and 16 as an NHL supervisor of officials. Harris refereed many historical hockey games, such as the famous 3-3 tie between the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

and the Soviet Union's Central Red Army team on December 31, 1975, a game fondly remembered and widely regarded as one of the best ever played. Over the course of his hockey career, he has refereed 953 regular season games, 85 Playoff games, and 6 Stanley Cup Final series.

Early life

Harris was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Career

In 1951, Harris played for the

Lachine Maroons Les Maroons de Lachine were a Canadian Junior ice hockey team from Lachine, Quebec, Canada. It started as a franchise in the Metropolitaine leagues in 1953 in both the Junior A and Junior B divisions. Later, in 1995, the Pierrefonds Lions of th ...

in the

Quebec Amateur Hockey Association Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

(QAHA), becoming a referee in 1956. In 1963, he signed his first contract with the NHL, officiating for various leagues, such as Western Hockey Association,

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

, and

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 Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

NHL

Starting in 1966, Harris started officiating in the NHL, refereeing 953 regular season games and 85 playoff games until 1983. His first game was on December 11, 1966, between the Montreal Canadiens and

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 ...

. On January 13, 1968, he refereed the game that resulted in an unfortunate incident where

Bill Masterton William Masterton (August 13, 1938 – January 15, 1968) was a Canadian American professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Minnesota North Stars in 1967–68. He is the only player in NHL history to ...

suffered head injury resulting in his death. In 1983, he was the first NHL referee to officiate the Spengler cup and did so for three years. During this time he was also involved in various training camps in Innsbruck Austria, Canazei Italy and Davos Switzerland. His last game was the final playoff series on May 12, 1983 between the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

and

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

. In 1989, Harris was assistant director of officials to Brian Lewis. In 2002, he retired from the NHL.

References

1935 births Living people National Hockey League officials Sportspeople from Montreal {{Canada-icehockey-bio-stub