Art Skov (September 2, 1928 – April 19, 2009) was a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

and Supervisor of Officials in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

, officiating more than 1,000 NHL games. He was also a Supervisor of Officials in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...

Career

After a junior season with the

Windsor Spitfires The Windsor Spitfires are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The team is based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1971, the franchise was promoted to the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League for the 1975� ...

in 1946, Skov played four seasons as a forward in the International Hockey League, most notably for the Detroit Hettche club, with whom he ended his playing career in 1952. He then went into officiating, and after an apprenticeship in the minor leagues, joined the NHL as a linesman in 1956."Former NHL referee Art Skov passes away at 80", Dad Waddell, ''Windsor Star'', April 22, 2009 Becoming a referee full-time in 1960, Skov was named as the referee in the league's All-Star Game in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, as well as in several

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

Finals and in the second

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...

series, as the first active NHL referee to officiate in international competition. He went on to officiate 1,026 games before his retirement in 1975, as the league's senior referee. At the time of his retirement, he had refereed more games than any other referee in the history of the NHL. He became the Supervisor of Officials for the

in 1977-78. Skov's younger brother

Glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. The word is Goidelic in origin: ''gleann'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, ''glion'' in Manx. ...

was a player in the NHL, most notably with the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

, and the Skovs were the second player/official brother combination in league history, following

Matt Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

and Marty Pavelich, earlier in the 1956 season. After his retirement as a referee, Skov became one of the league's Supervisors of Officials, before retiring from sports to run a trophy store in his native Windsor. He is interred at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Windsor.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skov, Art 1928 births 2009 deaths Edmonton Oilers scouts Ice hockey people from Windsor, Ontario National Hockey League officials