| NHL referees to officiate RMC-West Point classic
By Doug Graham (Kingston Whig Standard) Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 07:00 Local News - The longest running international hockey event is adding a first for Saturday�s 73rd meeting between the Royal Military College Paladins and West Point. The National Hockey League is lending its support to the historic hockey series between the military colleges from Canada and the United States by supplying the game officials. Greg Kimmerly of Toronto will be the referee while the linesmen are Steve Barton and Derek Nansen, also both Ontario residents. Kimmerly will drop the puck at centre ice at the Memorial Centre on Saturday at 2 p.m. It�s the first time in the history of the event, which began in 1923 on the recommendation of Lt.-Gen. Sir Archibald Macdonell, the Commandant of RMC, and Brig. Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, that NHL officials will be used. �No question it�s a first and I hope it isn�t the last,� said retired Major Dan McLeod, the former athletic director at RMC who also served as an NHL supervisor of officials for eight years. �The whole idea is to lend a little more stature, a little more stimulation to a great event,� McLeod said. �By and large the NHL is honouring the event by saluting the armed forces of the two nations.� Bill Oliver, hockey convener of the Ontario University Athletics, said McLeod had discussed the idea of getting NHL officials for the game to give it �an added lustre� a few years ago while the two men were travelling to West Point to see the rivalry played out at the Tate Rink in upper New York state. �We were fortunate that this was the NHL all-star weekend. There were officials available,� Oliver said. �The NHL right from the start seemed to get on board. It wasn�t a hard sell. �However, if Danny McLeod wasn�t Danny McLeod and didn�t have the credibility he has with the NHL, it still would have been difficult. Quite frankly, I was holding my breath,� Oliver added. McLeod talked to Jim Gregory, the NHL�s senior vice-president of hockey operations, and to Andy VanHellemond, the director of officiating. Kimmerly and his crew were assigned to Kingston to do the game, much as they would have been assigned to an NHL city. Kimmerly has officiated nearly 400 NHL games. He�s been in the league since 1993. Barton became a NHL linesman in 2000 and Nansen made the premier league in 2002. Since McLeod made the phone call to his NHL contacts, it has been Oliver who has been busy co-ordinating the officials� work day with Dave Baker, technical manager of officiating of the NHL office in Toronto. Oliver will meet the officials around noon on game day. He has a changeroom for them and all the items they are used to such as towels, soap, pop and gum and even a stationary bike to loosen up on. |