Earning his stripes

When the Winnipeg Jets hit the ice, they swan around with no sense of direction until a whistle reveals what they long to be — a staccato of aggression on the end of a stick.

And the person with the whistle who regulates this mayhem, who dresses in a black-and-white shirt with bright orange armbands, is a National Hockey League (NHL) referee, the zenith of officialdom on the ice in the world’s best hockey league.

Bill McCreary was one of those referees, and a very, very good one.

Stories from Ice Level by Rob Simpson and McCreary is the longtime referee’s recollections of the elite hockey world and his time in it as an official. It is a story that is insightful, fortuitous and humorous, and will inform and entertain even those who don’t know a puck from a kiss on the cheek.

Simpson is the author of four hockey books, and lives in Vancouver. McCreary, now 70, lives in Thornbury, Ont.

NHL referees require the acute mind of an air traffic controller, the character of a Templar knight, the physical strength of an Arnold Schwarzenegger and an avoidance reflex to just about everyone other than family and best friends. They are to hockey what a symphonic conductor is to the shepherding of notes.

McCreary was “one of the best refs to ever ref,” says Philadelphia Flyers coach and former player Rick Tocchet.

Scotty Bowman, arguably the greatest-ever hockey coach, said “I will take Bill McCreary (as referee) anywhere, anytime, on any game.” McCreary was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014. His on-ice career spanned 30 years, and he officiated a record 44 Stanley Cup final games, the most in history.

One night Wayne Gretzky was mouthing off at the referees and linesmen, and McCreary let it be known that if the Great One wouldn’t shut up he’d put Gretzky in the stands next to Gretzky’s dad, Walter, who was at the game. That did it. Gretzky said no more. He thought McCreary meant it.

An upset Gretzky reportedly said in the dressing room between periods, “He was going to throw me out and have me sit with my dad!”

Among other highlights recounted in Stories from Ice Level:

• McCreary was reffing a Buffalo Sabres game one night. A player rifled a puck around the boards and off the glass, “and it hits me right in the coconut and down I go like a lead balloon. I’m out cold,” he says. Smelling salts revived him.

• Former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube, once a player in the NHL, is seventh in all-time penalty minutes, and McCreary recalls how tough he was as a player. Troy Crowder, who played for New Jersey Devils, fought Berube one night. “I hit Berube right between the eyes with two punches and he just stood there and looked at me,” Crowder recalls. “All of a sudden I got this bear hug. He broke two of my ribs.”

• McCreary recalls an unbelievable faceoff ceremony that occurred in 1999, when the Leafs played their last game ever in Maple Leaf Gardens. “What was incredible about that night was the gentleman who scored the first goal in the first game ever played at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931 was there to perform the ceremonial faceoff,” he says. “They actually walked him out to centre ice and he dropped (the puck).” The player was Harold “Mush” March, who opened the scoring for the Chicago Black Hawks in their 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 12, 1931 in front of 13,542 people. (McCreary did not officiate that game.)

• On April 18, 1999, Wayne Gretzky played his final hockey game with the New York Rangers at Maple Leaf Gardens. “Here’s the kind of guy Gretzky is,” McCreary recalls. “We’re standing there at centre ice, waiting for all the networks, waiting to drop the puck, and all of a sudden Wayne takes off his glove and sticks his hand out and goes ‘thanks Billy for everything.’” (McCreary recalls thinking to himself that he should have been the one thanking Gretzky.)

• McCreary’s first NHL contract was in 1982; his salary was US$19,000. In 2025, senior referees were making up to US$500,000.

• McCreary describes former Montreal Canadiens defenceman Larry Robinson as “one of the classiest people I ever had the privilege of working with.”

• In the 1991 NHL draft, the Quebec Nordiques picked Eric Lindros first overall. He refused to play for them, and the next year he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. In October 1992, when the Flyers visited Quebec City to play, McCreary was rightfully nervous. “They threw more batteries on the ice than they sell at Canadian Tire.” said McCreary. “The game took over three hours — three hours!”

After hanging up his skates in 2011, McCreary became an NHL off-ice supervisor and worked through the 2023-24 season. In 2024 he became an advisor to the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), in its second year.

“From what I understand, the move to further expansion is much nearer than further away,” McCreary says in Stories from Ice Level. “I think they want to get to 10 or 12 teams sooner than later,” adds, noting “(t)heir skill level is incredible.”

Once again, McCreary got the call right — as of 2026-27 the PWHL will be up to 12 teams.

Barry Craig played three games in goal at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. After each game he ended up in Kingston Emergency. The hospital advised him to quit.