John Ashley (ice hockey referee)

John George Ashley (* 5. March 1930 in Galt ( Ontario ); † 5. January 2008 in Kitchener (Ontario) ) was a Canadian ice hockey - referee in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Career

He started his career as a hockey player in 1950 with the Toronto Maple Leafs , but did not play there, but came to a farm team and he played for Pittsburgh and Syracuse in the AHL . When he was sold to Eddie Shore's Springfield team three years later , he retired. He took a year out, played ice hockey for another three years and then started as a referee in one of the lower leagues in his hometown.

After just two more years, he was able to sign his first NHL contract in 1959. In his first year he worked mainly in the AHL and the USHL, both as a referee and as a linesman . The following twelve years, however, he was permanently employed in the NHL.

Ashley oversaw a total of 605 games as referee and 17 as linesman, a further 58 play-off games and 350 in the minor leagues. Between 1964 and 1972, he was assigned every seventh game in a playoff round, as he had an exceptionally good reputation in the NHL and with the players. In the 1970/71 season he took over the seventh game in the quarter-finals , semi-finals and in the final , this was an unprecedented performance by a referee, which was also associated with enormous pressure.

In 1972 he ended his active career and worked as a talent scout for young referees in the NHL.

His services to the sport were recognized in 1981 with the induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame .

Web links

• John Ashley in the database of the Hockey Hall of Fame (English)
• John Ashley at hockeydb.com (English)