Hockey officials ready to hit the ice

Kevin Pollock’s summer vacation was not as long as usual – and that was just fine with him.
In June, the veteran NHL referee was chosen for the first time to participate in the Stanley Cup final. It shortened his annual summer break by two weeks, but there are occasions when you want to be asked to stay late at work.
Pollock, a longtime Guelph resident, says that’s true of all 66 of the NHL’s on-ice officials – 33 referees and 33 linesmen.
“If you ask anybody on the staff, they would rather have less time off in the summer,” he said in an interview last week.
“We’re very proud people. I think in order to be an NHL referee, you have to have the will to win, the will to succeed, the will to go as far as you can. If you don’t have that, you won’t be successful in the business, and you won’t stay in the business long. So everybody goes to training camp with the goal to make the final.”
Pollock has been in the business for a long time. He’s worked for the NHL since 1997 and has handled many high-profile assignments, including the Sochi Olympics. He called his 1,000th NHL game last March.
But the Cup final is something special for every official, just as it is for every player, and only a handful get the call each year. The assignments are based on their performance evaluations during the regular season and the playoffs.
“It was a dream come true,” Pollock said. “I’ve always aspired to do a final, and I got close many years in the past but wasn’t able to reach that last step, that pinnacle. To finally get through, it was amazing. It was everything I thought it would be, and more.”
At age 45, Pollock is older than any player in the NHL, but many on-ice officials manage to skate well into their 50s, and Pollock isn’t looking to hang up his blades any time soon.
He works hard year-round to maintain his fitness and athleticism because, like an aging player, he knows there are younger men coming up through the ranks who may eventually take his position if the day comes when he can no longer keep up with them.
“I go to training camp with these younger officials who are in fabulous shape, and it’s a pride thing,” Pollock said. “We want to push ourselves to be as close to their fitness level as possible. If you let your fitness slip, when you get out on the ice, it’ll show. You won’t be in a proper position to make a call.”
“And it’s a livelihood issue. So the expectation of us coming to training camp is that we are elite athletes and we’re in the best possible shape and we’re going to prove it in our fitness tests. And if you don’t, you’re going to have to answer some tough questions as to why you didn’t prepare the way you should have prepared.”
During the off season, Pollock prepared with the help of strength and conditioning coach Wayne Burke at Shift, a gym in Guelph’s south end.
“He’s made me a better athlete,” Pollock said, adding that his fitness also helps him to avoid injuries that might force him off the ice.
“You have to have a fitness program, and I really believe you have to have a fitness pro who will monitor you and train you.”
Pollock is one of many current and former NHL officials who have called Guelph home. He moved here in 1991 and continues to live here with his wife Karie, a former Gryphon volleyball player, and their two children.
He happily points out that their nine-year-old son is also a Gryphon, as the university now sponsors the Guelph Minor Hockey Association.
“It’s pretty cool that he’s carrying the Gryphons torch for my wife.”