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Post by cj on Feb 27, 2013 20:17:02 GMT -5
In going through you tube to watch some great old time hockey footage they have, I came across this little tidbit.
Eddie Powers is probbly a name not known to 99.9% of the people here but he was the #1 referee (that was his uniform number) along with Frank Udvari (#2) in the early 1960's. Incredible footage of Powers working a game with a young Ron Wicks (who came into the league as a lineman at the age of 20!) and Neil Armstrong a long time linesman. Just watching the film, at least for me, brought back many nosalgic memories of the Detroit Olympia Stadium among other things
Interesting that Powers along with Red Storey, a very famous NHL referee and a fellow named Dalton MacArthur all had falling outs with Carl Voss (and Clarencde Campbell) and eventually quit or were fired.
And it was interesting that even thought Powers was #1, he still had to work his share of games in the AHL and the EPHL which the NHL provided officials for in those days.
Really swell feature of what old time NHL officiating was all about.
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Post by FredFan7 on Feb 27, 2013 22:50:51 GMT -5
That was great footage! I remember Ron Wicks when he was gray and winding up his NHL career.
Remember when the linesmen could jump up on the glass to get out of the way of flying bodies? Look at how LOW the glass is! Can't do that now.
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Post by cj on Feb 28, 2013 1:00:34 GMT -5
That was great footage! I remember Ron Wicks when he was gray and winding up his NHL career. Remember when the linesmen could jump up on the glass to get out of the way of flying bodies? Look at how LOW the glass is! Can't do that now. The referees too, Fred. Frank Udvari was a master at that. There are several other videos there of games from Maple Leaf Gardens on Hockey Night in Canada from that same era; a couple worked by Udvari between Leafs and Chicago which ended in brawls and watching the linesmen trying to break up the fights while the referee just stood around and watch (it wa Udvari) that brought back pleasant memories but I didn't post them because they are not officiating in nature but rther the brawls (also it was fun lisening to Bill Hewitt who sounded identical to his dad Foster Hewitt whose radio broadcasts I used to listen to on CBC radio out of Toronto in that era). Maybe I'll post one. BTW, you're right about Wicks. He came into the league, as noted in the piece, at age 20 as a linesman (I remember what a great skater he was as a linesman) and in those days the training regiment for future referees was a few years in the NHL as a linesman (Koharski came through the same training) then a period of apprenticeship working games in the AHL and the successor of the EPHL, the CPHL which later because the CHL and then they were ready for the big show as a ref. John D'Amico went through that system too but John didn't like refereeing and returned for the rest of his career as a linesman after he lost control of a game in New York. Wicks spent over 30 years as an NHL official. And don't get him started, either, on what he thinks of the two referee system! |
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Post by cj on Feb 28, 2013 1:10:16 GMT -5
I changed my mind....here is an old time HNIC telecast from 1961 out of Maple Leaf Gardens between the Leafs and Hawks...
The referee is Frank Udvari (#2),The linesmen were George Hayes, a legendary linesman who was fired by the NHL for refusing to take an eye test and Bill Morrison who was one of those regional linesmen the NHL used along with a couple of full timers and only worked games in the mid west (Walt Atanas who lived in Springfield was a linesman who only worked games in NY or Boston, Bobby Frampton only did NY, Boston and Montreal while the full time linesman besides Hayes were Neil Armstrong, Matt Pavelich and Ron Wicks). You can watch the officiating techniques of that era (can't resist this dig, but the officiating was much better when there was only one referee). Right near the beginning, you can see Udvari along the low glass getting ready to hop up out of the way of the play although it went by him before he could.
The commentator is Bill Hewitt, son of the legendary Foster Hewitt and for the life of me, I can't tell their voices apart (Foster was still working and doing radio for HNIC at the time).
From the view point of officiating, a brawl breaks out and watching the officials tgrying to break it up. You think NFL officials have it rough separating the combatants!
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