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Memories of Mick (AKA "Oh, McGeough! You've Done It Again!")

November 25, 2018, 1:34 PM ET [2 Comments]
Paul Stewart
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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It is always a sad day for me when we lose one of our officiating brethren but especially one I knew personally. The passing this weekend of my longtime NHL refereeing colleague Mick McGeough at the age of 62 gives me pause for reflection. We broke in at the same time, and I roomed with Mick at officiating camp. I'm going to miss him, as will all who knew him.

On the professional side, Mick loved the game. He found a way to stay in hockey -- and make it the NHL for 20 years -- through the officiating side after his playing days with the Regina Pats and Spokane Flyers were done and there was not a professional playing career awaiting him on the other side. His younger brother, Jim, was a fine player: a slick skater with good hands who made it to the NHL and had a good career in the American Hockey League among other circuits. Jim was also a good guy. I reffed some of his games, and always found him respectful and easy to deal with in general.

There is often an unspoken competition of sorts among referees. Yes, there is some ego involved. Mick and I were typical in that regard but he was a good teammate on the ice. He was also a very good communicator on the ice, with players and coaches as well as fellow officials. He had good psychology as a referee, which is an underrated part of the job, and he achieved both longevity and acceptability. He commanded respect because he had a good feel for the game, was accessible but also knew when the time for talking was done.

The Regina native worked all across the NHL over the course of his career but his hub was the Western Conference. In particular, he knew western Canada like the back of his hand.

Off the ice, it was impossible not to like Mick. If you ever got mad at him, you couldn't stay mad for long. He had a great sense of humor and never took himself too seriously. He had a quick smile and an infectious laugh.

Over the course of his career, whether at the rink or off the ice, Mick must have heard people say "Oh, McGeough! You've done it again!" to him in joking or semi-joking fashion 10,000 times. That, of course, was a reference to the signature Jim Backus line from the Mr. Magoo cartoon show ("Oh, Magoo! You've done it again!") with the extremely near-sighted protagonist who stubbornly refuses admit his visual impairment and gets into all sorts of misadventures as a result. But no matter how many times he heard it, Mick would make the quipster feel like it was an original line. He'd flash that grin of his.

Mick wasn't the tidiest roommate I ever had. You'd walk into the room and find stuff -- his and/or yours -- strewn on the floor. Oh, well. As I said, you couldn't stay mad at him.

During the summertime, Mick would host the Herb Tarlek Golf Invitational up in Regina. I flew up there one year to participate. In order to play, one had to wear the loudest, most obnoxious attire one could find (ala the WKRP in Cincinnati character). We had a blast, and we raised money for charity.

I remember standing out on the course with Mick. In the near distance was farmland. I pointed to some bundles in the field.

"Hey, Mick," I said. "What are those?"

"They're stooks," he replied.

"Oh, OK," I said. "Um, what's a stook?"

As a city kid from Boston, I had never heard the term before. I also had no idea what I was looking at. Mick glanced at me and chuckled warmly.

"Stooks are just sheaves of grain stalks that have been cut but still need to be collected for threshing," Mick explained.

I still wasn't 100 percent sure what that meant, but at least I had the general idea.

"Well, thanks Mick," I said. "I learned something new today."

He chuckled again.

That was Mick. I will miss his rapid-fire, staccato way of speaking. I'll miss his chuckle. I'll miss his passion for the game. I'll miss the gleam in his eye when conversation turned to his family. In short, I'll miss my old friend and colleague.

Rest in peace, brother.

************

A Class of 2018 inductee to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games. Today, Stewart is the director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.

Order Paul's new autobiography, entitled "Ya Wanna Go?" at YaWannaGo.com
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