William McCreary (born November 17, 1955, in Guelph, Ontario) is a former National Hockey League

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 titl ...

. Before retiring in 2011, McCreary officiated 1,737 regular season games, 297 playoff games, and one NHL All-Star Game. McCreary wore uniform number 7 since the

1994–95 NHL season The 1994–95 NHL season was the 78th regular season of the National Hockey League. The teams played a shortened season, due to a lockout of the players by the owners. In addition, the NHL All-Star Game, which had been scheduled to take place Ja ...

and wore a helmet for most of his refereeing career. He worked fifteen

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...

, the

1991 Canada Cup The 1991 Labatt Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament played in August and September 1991. The finals took place in Montreal on September 14 and Hamilton on September 16, and were won by Canada. The Canadians defeated ...

, the

1996 World Cup of Hockey The first World Cup of Hockey ( WCH), or ''1996 World Cup of Hockey'', replaced the Canada Cup as one of the premier championships for professional ice hockey. Inaugural ''World Cup of Hockey'' The first edition of the Cup featured eight teams d ...

, and the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, where he officiated the gold medal game each time.

Early life

McCreary was born on November 17, 1955, in Guelph, Ontario. He learned to skate at the age of three years old after beating meningitis, which his sister had died from. McCreary competed with the Buffalo Tondas, Windsor Spitfires, and the Guelph Holody Platers in the SOJHL from 1973-76. After going undrafted out of junior hockey, he accepted a position at a machine shop and worked side jobs as a referee in local minor hockey games.

Career

McCreary was invited to an National Hockey League (NHL) officials training camp in 1981 after officiating for three years. After refereeing one major junior playoff game, he was hired by Scotty Morrison for the NHL. He eventually refereed his first NHL game in 1984 at

Capital Centre Capitol Center or Capitol Centre or Capital Center or Capital Centre may refer to: Singapore *Capitol Centre, Singapore United Arab Emirates *Capital Centre (Abu Dhabi) United Kingdom *Capitol Centre, Cardiff, a shopping mall United States * Ca ...

in Landover, Maryland, then home of the Washington Capitals. During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, he officiated the men's hockey gold medal game won by Canada vs USA by the score of 5-2. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, McCreary worked building kitchen cabinets to make ends meet. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, McCreary was selected to officiate the

for the 13th year in a row. On February 16, 2008, McCreary refereed his 1,500th NHL game in a match between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. In

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, McCreary officiated the Stanley Cup Finals for the 14th time. He was also selected as one of 13 NHL referees to officiate at the

in Vancouver, including the Gold Medal Game. On December 22, 2009, McCreary officiated when

Martin Brodeur Martin Pierre Brodeur (; born May 6, 1972) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey goaltender and current team executive. He played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), 21 of them for the New Jersey Devils, with whom ...

broke Terry Sawchuk's career shutout record with his 104th shutout. Although he had previously announced that he would retire as an NHL referee at the end of the 2009-10 NHL season, he returned for the 2010-11 NHL season. The next year, he was inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame. McCreary officiated his last NHL game on April 2, 2011, in Washington, D.C., between the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres, a game won by the Capitals 5-4. On June 23, 2014, the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

Selection Committee announced that McCreary would be enshrined in the Hall of Fame with the 2014 class of inductees.

Personal life

McCreary and his wife Mary Ann have one daughter together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCreary, Bill 1955 births Living people Canadian ice hockey officials Ice hockey people from Ontario Hockey Hall of Fame inductees National Hockey League officials Sportspeople from Guelph