The NHL mourns the passing of long-time referee McCourt

The NHL has announced the passing of long time on-ice and off-ice official Danny McCourt at 70 years of age.

McCourt officiated on ice as a linesman in the NHL from 1979 until 2004, and then held the position as the NHL's Officiating Manager in the Scouting & Development Department from 2005 until 2022. From 2022 until his passing this past week he served as a consultant to Officiating Director Stephen Walkom.

To call McCourt a 'hockey lifer' would be the understatement of the year.

This guy lived and breathed hockey and had earned the respect at everyone in the sport.

Upon his retirement from on-ice officiating back in 2004, McCourt stated that his most memorable moment in his career was dropping the puck for a season opening faceoff between Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers and his own brother Dale McCourt of the Detroit Red Wings. Dale won the faceoff and Danny could not stop grinning the entire game.

A nephew of Toronto Maple Leafs legend George Armstrong, McCourt's goal was always to get to the NHL... by any means necessary.

“I just wanted to get to the NHL — that was my goal,” McCourt told The Sudbury Star in 2015, the year he was inducted into Sudbury’s sports hall. “When the playing side of it ended, I thought, you know what, there’s two opportunities open here — you can either coach or you can referee."

“I thought, well, you can coach when you’re 50 years old. I’m going to try this refereeing thing and I’m going to see how far I can go with it.”

McCourt took an opportunity and ran with it. The rest is history and he carved out a remarkable career for himself in the NHL.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to McCourt's friends, family and officiating partners at this difficult time.