Bill McCreary has a passion for hockey, and it shows. After working three Olympic gold medal games and more Stanley Cup Finals games than any referee in history, he’s leaving the NHL on top.
Bill McCreary has been a fixture in the NHL for more than a quarter century and, with his signature mustache, one of its most recognizable figures. In that time, Bill McCreary has presided over some of the most significant events in the history of his sport, and been an eyewitness to some of its most dramatic moments.
The sun is setting on McCreary’s career; this NHL season will be his last.
But sunsets are often magnificent and the 55-year-old McCreary still brings his passion for his work and the game of hockey to the ice with him each night.
“Bill has the ability to go out there every night and give it mentally 100 percent,” says Terry Gregson, the NHL’s director of officiating. “He’s been around the game a long time, but when it’s time to go out on the ice, Bill adopts that attitude that he’s in charge.
“He’s able to turn on that switch, go out there and stay immersed in the game, night in and night out.”
“You can become complacent about your job, any job, right?” says NHL linesman Steve Miller, who worked the last two Stanley Cup Finals with McCreary. “Bill’s never done that. He brings it every night.”
“I enjoy what I do,” McCreary says. “I love what I do. I love the game of hockey. When I’m not working hockey games, I’m watching hockey games.
“The game has given everything to my family that we have. It’s been very, very easy for me to give back to the game and do the best that I can every night I’m out there.”
Ice Culture
Even by the standards of Canada, a nation where hockey is as much a culture as a sport, McCreary’s ties to the game are stronger than most. His uncle, also named Bill, spent more than two decades in professional hockey, much of it in the NHL as a player, coach and executive. His two first cousins were also NHL players.
Bill himself grew up in Guelph, Ontario, about 60 miles west of Toronto. He was a lifelong resident of the city until moving to Thornbury last fall.
As a player, McCreary was proficient enough to play Junior A hockey, but his playing career ended at that level.
“I was probably an acceptable junior player,” he says. “I certainly did not have NHL-caliber or professional-caliber talent.”
His playing career behind him, McCreary turned to officiating as a way to stay involved in hockey. He started working games in and around Guelph and within a year was receiving assignments in the Ontario Hockey Association. It didn’t hurt that Guelph was something of a cradle of officiating talent.
Ken Bodendistel, one of the area’s officiating gurus, had spent some time in the NHL himself and had a talent for bringing along young officials. Future NHLers Andy Van Hellemond, Ray Scapinello, Will Norris, Ron Asselstine, and later on, McCreary and Paul Devorski, all got their start working minor hockey in the community.
“I had a lot of people to extract knowledge and information from,” McCreary says. “I was very fortunate to follow all those gentlemen.”
McCreary’s break came in 1981 when Scotty Morrison, the NHL’s referee-in-chief at the time, invited him to Toronto to attend a one-day training camp for up-and-coming prospects. The young officials were evaluated on the ice and off, then attended an NHL game at Maple Leaf Gardens. McCreary was invited back the next year and signed to an NHL contract. He was just shy of 27 at the time, somewhat older than most prospects at a time when the mandatory retirement age for NHL officials was 45.
It was two years before McCreary worked his first NHL game and, like any up-and-coming referee, he had his share of minor-league adventures. The most memorable of them occurred in the Central Hockey League, a circuit where the players’ level of passion occasionally exceeded their level of ability.
One Friday night, McCreary worked a game in Fort Worth, Texas, that featured a bench-clearing brawl, among other interruptions. After the game, McCreary called the league president — future Hockey Hall of Famer Bud Poile — to make his report.
“He said, ‘Young man, was there a good crowd?’” McCreary recalls. “I said, ‘Yes, there was a pretty good crowd.’ He said, ‘I believe they play again tomorrow night, the same two teams.’ I said, ‘Yes they do.’ He said, ‘Give me a call Sunday afternoon and let me know how it went.’”
The following evening, the two teams picked up where they had left off.
“There were no suspensions,” McCreary says. “We had players off the benches, we had third men get into fights; we had everything that could possibly happen in a hockey game.”
McCreary admits there were nights when he questioned the road he’d taken. But the competitive instincts he honed as a player served him well as a young referee.
Drive for Success
“I wanted to succeed,” he says. “Because I didn’t have the skill set to make it as a player in the National Hockey League, I didn’t want to fail as an official. I wanted to succeed; I wanted to be one of the best.”
In addition to “learning on the job,” McCreary also had opportunities to watch NHL referees up close. If he was working an American Hockey League game in Springfield, Mass., for instance, he might make a side trip to Boston for an officiating seminar of sorts. He would have lunch with the officials on game day and attend the game that night in the company of a league observer to get a sense of what working in the “big time” was all about.
Even after McCreary worked his first NHL game on Nov. 3, 1984, he was surrounded by mentors, namely the members of the NHL officiating corps he had joined. McCreary sought feedback from the linesmen he worked with each night, or senior referees who, in the days before e-mail, were just a phone call away.
“Every one of them, to a man, was fantastic about offering advice when you called,” McCreary says. “Referees like Dave Newell, Wally Harris, people like that.
“Lots of senior linesmen helped me tremendously throughout my career, lots and lots of them. If I started to name them, I’d probably have to name them all.”
For two seasons McCreary worked a split schedule, dividing his time between the NHL and the minors. In 1986-87 he worked a full NHL schedule for the first time and at the end of that season received his first playoff assignment.
“He’s able to turn on that switch, go out there, and stay immersed in the game, night in and night out.”
— Terry Gregson, NHL Director of Officiating
In that era, officiating in the NHL was as much art as science. Referees strove to strike a balance between allowing the players to display their skills and keeping the athletes’ competitive juices in check.
In recent years the league has developed more specific parameters and guidelines for its officials, but McCreary notes that the tasks of game management and people management are as important as ever.
“Number one, you have to be a good skater,” he says. “You have to be a great communicator, you have to have tolerance, you have to be stern, but the bottom line is, at the end of the day, I’ve always refereed with two words in my mind, ‘fair’ and ‘safe’ at all times.
“I think if the players and coaches know that you’re fair, and that you try to keep the game as safe as possible for the players — an environment in which they show their skill level — that’s what I strive to do each and every night.”
The speed of a hockey game, along with its physicality and emotional timbre, combine to form a unique working environment for officials.
A Feel for the Game
Over time, McCreary developed a knack for monitoring a game’s emotional temperature and knowing when to step in to adjust it.
“I think you have to know when to insert yourself into a game when the game needs direction,” he says, “and when you need to sit back and let the game unfold.
“The players will basically tell you within themselves, by how they play, how they want the game officiated. Within the guidelines and policies we have to follow, there is some game management involved, meaning that the game needs a little bit tighter calls at certain times because the emotional level is getting out of hand.”
McCreary’s regard for the players he works with is evident — respect for their skills, coupled with an understanding of the emotions they bring to the ice.
“When a player goes down the ice and beats a couple players he might get pushed into the goalpost,” McCreary says. “He’s mad, so he goes over and skates into somebody else. Is it a legal check? Or is it an elbow because he’s frustrated?”
“Bill’s very professional in how he treats the players and how he treats the coaches,” says veteran NHL linesman Jay Sharrers. “It’s just like in life, you get what you give. By treating people with respect while also keeping them honest. I think that’s what enables Bill to have the continued success he has and the respect that he has.”
By his own admission, McCreary can be very forceful with players and coaches if the situation warrants.
“I can be blunt,” he says. “I’m pretty direct at times. Some people call me a ‘hard ass’ on the ice. I can be intimidating, I guess. But all of that comes with experience. You have to work hard to gain the respect of these players.”
Sharrers credits McCreary for being able to stay on the right side of the line between, as Sharrers puts it, “arrogance and confidence.”
“It’s a tightrope to walk that,” he says, “in terms of being successful at it, and I think Bill has mastered that over the course of his career.”
If there was a single moment that propelled McCreary into the ranks of the elite of his profession, it may have occurred on May 27, 1994, when he worked the seventh and deciding game of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. At the time the rivalry between the two teams was as fierce as any in the league.
At the time referees were also encouraged and indeed expected to “put their whistles away” in such situations and call only the most blatant of infractions.
The game lasted into the second overtime before the Rangers
prevailed, 2-1. Over the course of nearly 85 minutes of hockey, McCreary called just two penalties — one against each team. Afterward, he received rave reviews, and a few days later his first Stanley Cup Finals assignment.
“I think that game vaulted me into the (finals),” McCreary says. “I’ll never forget the general manager of the Devils saying how well the game was called even though they lost. It was a tremendous hockey game.”
McCreary worked games two and six of the 1994 finals between the Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks and went on to work the finals for 13 consecutive seasons. Indeed, he had a part in virtually every significant competition during that period, whether it be the Stanley Cup Finals, the World Cup or Olympic Games.
“I just sort of got on a run,” McCreary says. “You have to be very, very lucky when you get to that level and have your games go well instead of being controversial.”
7 Defining Moments in a Storied Career
When you have the career Bill McCreary has had, you work a lot of big games. McCreary shared some thoughts on some of his most memorable games.
June 2, 2010: Stanley Cup Finals, Game Three, Chicago Blackhawks at Philadelphia Flyers
McCreary’s 43rd Finals assignment broke the record of 42 held by Hall of Fame referee Bill Chadwick.
“I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Chadwick quite a few years ago at a golf tournament in Toronto. We had our pictures taken together. To have the honor of breaking his record was a real nice thing.”
Feb. 26, 2010: Olympic Gold Medal Game, U.S. vs. Canada
“It was sad there had to be a loser, both teams played such a tremendous game. I don’t know if you’ll ever get a better game to watch. It was a huge honor to be part of that game.”
Feb. 13, 1999: Last NHL Game at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Chicago Blackhawks
“It was an honor to be part of such history. Two of the original six teams were playing. They brought in the gentleman who scored the first goal in the building (in 1931). Being on the ice with all that history made it a memorable night.”
February 1998: First Olympic Games, Nagano, Japan
McCreary worked the first of his three Gold Medal games, but recalls another unique game.
“In the (semifinals) I had the first Olympic shootout, between the Czechs and Canada. Wayne Gretzky didn’t shoot.”
June 2, 1994 and June 11, 1994: First Stanley Cup Finals, New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks
“You always remember your first Stanley Cup Finals. I worked games two and six, which was quite an honor. It was just incredible hockey; it was fast, tough hockey with a lot of great players on each team.”
May 27, 1994: Game Seven, Eastern Conference Finals, New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers
The Rangers defeated the Devils, 2-1, in two overtimes to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
“We played five periods and I called one penalty on each team. A different standard was respected, and expected in those days, but the players played like men and they were treated like men.”
Nov. 3, 1984: First NHL Game, Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals
“I worked with two veteran linesmen, Gord Broseker and Ray Scapinello. I was probably in over my head, but I was getting started. Those two guys helped me out a lot that game.”
Hockey Family
But even as he reached the pinnacle of his profession, McCreary faced a family crisis off the ice.
He and his wife, Mary Ann, noticed that their daughter Melissa, who was five years old at the time, was having trouble using the left side of her body. What followed was a nerve-wracking series of tests and medical procedures as doctors tried to determine what was wrong.
At one point it was thought Melissa might have a brain tumor; eventually doctors determined she had suffered a stroke that affected the right side of her brain, and the left side of her body as a result.
While all that was going on McCreary continued to work. While Melissa was being treated at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), a world-renowned pediatric hospital in Toronto, her father’s schedule was adjusted so he was rarely more than an hour’s flying time away.
At one point, the McCrearys sought a second opinion on Melissa’s condition from a hospital in Boston. Bryan Lewis, the NHL’s director of officiating at the time, promptly assigned McCreary to work a game there so that a portion of the family’s travel expenses would be covered.
“The league was incredible,” he says. “Bryan was very supportive. I can say nothing but good things about them.”
Melissa McCreary will celebrate her 21st birthday in April and is an ardent hockey fan. She aspires to a career working with animals.
“She is truly the rock of our family,” Bill says. “The things that she went through at school, the teasing, the lack of support; I’ve always considered that what she went through — the trials and tribulations as a young kid — is nothing I ever had to go through refereeing a hockey game. Whenever I had anything to complain about, I always drew on her experience and her strength to help me get through what I had to do.”
Melissa draws from the support of her dad as well.
“My dad has always been a positive influence for me,” she said. “He has always tried to steer me in the right direction and show me that hard work pays off.
“It means so much to me to know that my dad supports me. Growing up he has always shown that support, whether it was for an upcoming math test or even taking me and watching me during a horseback riding lesson. Knowing that he supports me gives me the confidence to try new things because I know if I don’t succeed my dad will always have my back.”
Bill and Mary Ann celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary last November.
Bill also has two sons, Ryan, 30, and Michael, 28, from a previous marriage. Michael was a referee for a time, working in various minor leagues.
McCreary says his wife, a lifelong hockey enthusiast, has been steadfast in her support.
“She’s been a rock at home,” he says. “She’s been the principal, the schoolteacher, the mom, the dad, all those great things that a wife has to be when you’re on the road.”
McCreary believes that family support is essential if an official is going to be successful.
“I talk to young guys about it,” he says. “Obviously there are all kinds of problems with families. We have it in our own business. I try to encourage them to fix those problems if at all possible, because without that support, I truly don’t think you can be successful. I look at every official that’s been successful on our staff and they’ve had that support. I think it adds up to that and it’s very important to have it.”
A New Phase
When the NHL began phasing in the two-referee system during the 1998-99 season, McCreary and his colleagues had to adapt to a different way of working. New techniques and mechanics were required — the two-man system requires a significant amount of backward skating, for instance, the one-referee system comparatively little. Officials who weren’t especially proficient at skating backward struggled with the new system.
There was also the task of learning to share the responsibility for overseeing the game with a partner.
“Obviously you’re not in charge of the game anymore,” McCreary says. “You’re sharing the game with another official. It’s very, very difficult to blend two people’s judgment into one. We’ve tried different things over the years and I think we’re still in a learning curve. I think we’re always learning.”
As the two-referee system became standard operating procedure in the NHL, McCreary assumed the role of mentor to the less-experienced officials on the staff, much as the veterans had done for him in the early days of his career.
“I really enjoy giving back to the game,” he says. “My way of giving back is working with younger, less experienced officials and not filling their heads with a whole bunch of things throughout a hockey game, but just bringing up little fine points that I’ve learned over time that have helped me. I try to pass that along to them and see if it fits into their game. Hopefully we can give confidence to (the younger officials) and help them progress much quicker.”
In fact, McCreary was planning to retire after the 2009-10 season but Gregson asked him to return for another year, in part because of McCreary’s knack for working with young officials.
“I felt that Bill could work with the younger guys and teach them quite a bit,” Gregson says. “Bill is willing to speak his mind with the younger guys, and they’ll accept it because of the credibility he has. If Bill sees a guy that just isn’t getting some element of the game, Bill can communicate to them, and he does so.”
Ian Walsh refereed his first NHL game in 2000. He says McCreary brings out the best in the young officials he works with.
“When you get out on the ice you want to referee so well because you know he’s going to referee a good game,” Walsh says, “and you almost don’t want to let him down. You don’t want to disappoint him, because Billy’s been the best in the business. When you get on the ice with him you want to work up to his level.”
In the spring of 2008, McCreary’s streak of Stanley Cup Finals appearances ended when he was not selected to work the series between Detroit and Pittsburgh. He admits now the thought crossed his mind that perhaps his career was approaching its conclusion.
“It does enter your mind, but (not being selected) also made me mad,” he says. “Mad in the sense that I let it happen.
“It was my own fault. I missed a couple calls in a game, my boss recognized that, and there were other officials working better than me that deserved to be in the finals. They were very, very good officials. So it was my own fault that I wasn’t selected, nobody else’s.”
Determined to bounce back from his disappointment, McCreary rededicated himself and worked the Stanley Cup Finals in both 2009 and ’10. In the process he established a record for most finals games worked by a referee with 44.
Olympic Glory
But for McCreary the highlight of the season was being assigned to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. It was his third Olympic assignment.
His first came in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, the first time NHL players participated in the Games. In fact, the NHL Players Association requested that NHL officials be part of the officiating pool in Nagano because the players had concerns about the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) officials who customarily worked most international tournaments. McCreary worked the gold medal game that year between the Czech Republic and Russia.
Four years later in 2002, McCreary was in Salt Lake City where, refereeing alone (the IIHF still utilized the one-referee system at the time), he handled a hotly contested semifinal game between the United States and Russia. Some in the Russian camp accused McCreary of favoritism, but Russian goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, an NHL veteran, was among those who came to his defense.
McCreary went on to work the final game in which Canada defeated the United States for the gold medal. It was the first time in Olympic history that a Canadian referee worked a final game involving a Canadian team.
McCreary’s most vivid memories of the occasion are of what happened following the game.
“I had 11 Americans, unsolicited, come over and shake my hand,” he said. “It was something I’ll never forget. It was pretty emotional at the time.”
McCreary’s third Olympic trip would be especially memorable, in part because the Games were being held in his home country, but also because his wife, who was battling cancer at the time, was able to join him, along with their daughter.
Mary Ann was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in October 2009. She scheduled her surgery for the NHL’s Olympic break in February, but after Bill received his assignment the date was moved up, so she could help her husband fulfill a promise to their daughter to take Melissa to the Games.
Just 15 days after her operation, Mary Ann joined Melissa on a plane for Vancouver. When Bill worked the gold medal game with NHL colleague Dan O’Halloran, his wife and daughter were in the stands.
“It was an amazing atmosphere and as a Canadian I wanted to cheer for Canada, but because my dad was refereeing, I was too nervous to cheer,” said Melissa. “I remember just hoping that the teams played a good, clean hockey game, so that there would be no problems for my dad and his fellow officials. I think that would be the most nervous I have ever been when watching my dad.”
“My wife was such a trooper,” McCreary said. “She wanted that to happen for our daughter and be part of the Olympics. I was so happy that they could be there. Then when I was assigned the gold medal game it was such a huge honor. I was so happy to have them there with me.”
Mary Ann has been a hockey fan all her life, but watching her husband work in person can be an unsettling experience.
“I grew up watching hockey,” she says, “but once I met Billy, I told my dad, ‘I can’t enjoy the game the same way because I’m really not watching the game, I’m watching the officials more.’ It’s stressful. But if people holler at him, it doesn’t bother me. It bothers Melissa. She doesn’t like it when they holler at Daddy.”
One of the Best
As the end of the 2010-11 season approaches, the close of McCreary’s career is near. Per NHL policy he will not work the Stanley Cup playoffs, but his status as one of the most accomplished officials in history is secure.
Only 10 referees are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. McCreary will tell you without prompting that longtime colleague Don Koharski should be number 11. He downplays the idea of being inducted one day himself.
“I’ve never really thought about it until the last couple years,” he says. “People say I have Hall of Fame numbers; I don’t know what those numbers are. It’s something I don’t really dwell on very much.”
With retirement looming, McCreary is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, who is in good health, and his family, but doesn’t plan on severing his connections to the game that has defined his life.
“I would love to have the opportunity to mentor officials and work with officials,” he says. “I think it would be a tremendous way to not only give back to the game, but also stay in the game that I love. If that opportunity comes along, I would certainly jump at it.”
Rick Woelfel is a freelance writer and umpire from Philadelphia.
