This past spring, National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Western Collegiate Hockey Association referee, Derek Shepherd announced his retirement from college hockey officiating.
Some people have posted their favorite Shepherd moments. I have a couple memories that I can share.
The first time that I had met Shepherd was in passing during the 2005-2006 season. I was a supervisor for TSA at the GFK Airport. It was a Monday morning and I was working the check point. It was the Monday after UND had been taken to three games by the Minnesota State Mavericks during the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Shepherd was going through the security line and I said, “Good morning. After greeting him, I asked, “I didn’t know you guys fly to the games?”
I continued, “You’d be home already if you had driven.” His retort was funny, “If your crummy team had won in two games I would be home already.”
Awkward Moment?
The next time I met Shepherd was a couple of years ago. I showed up for a game at the REA press box. When I arrived, Erik Martinson told me that he had someone that wanted to meet me after warmups. I said, “Who?” Martinson, said, “You’ll see.”
After pre-game warmups, Martinson takes me to the entrance to the visitor’s penalty box and Shepherd walks off of the ice. Martinson introduced us we shake hand chatted.
As most of you know, I have blogged extensively about the state of officiating in college hockey. Some good, some bad.
At times, I might have been critical of certain officials. So, this was a bit of an awkward moment. During out conversation, Shepherd had told me that he likes to read my blog Goon’s World because of all the Youtube videos that I posted. It was one of those moments where you are trying to think back and wonder if you had posted something unflattering about them.
After chatting for a few minutes, I said, “I hope I wasn’t too hard on you.” Shepherd replied, “Don’t worry, I have said worse things about you.” We both chuckled and we went our separate ways.
Sudden Shortage of Officials?
With the retirement of Shepherd, Marco Hunt and the death of beloved referee Oliver “Butch” Mousseau the NCAA has lost some respected, experienced on-ice officials in a very short period of time. The loss of Mousseau and Shepherd are huge and will be noticed. There’s a good chance that we will see some new on-ice officials when the 2016-17 season begins.
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