Denis Morel (born December 13, 1948, in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

) is a retired

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 ...

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 ...

. His career started in 1972 and ended in 1994. During his career (in which he wore a

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

from the mid-1980s until his retirement), he officiated over 1,200 regular season games and two

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. He also officiated two All-Star games. Was the official during the game in which Brad May scored the ''May Day'' goal to win game 4 in overtime for the Buffalo Sabres, sweeping the Boston Bruins, April 24, 1993. It was his last playoff game. On Saturday, October 16, 1993, in the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The te ...

game in Winnipeg, Morel was the referee who allowed the controversial overtime goal by Jets forward Nelson Emerson to stand. After Blackhawks goaltender

Ed Belfour Edward John Belfour (born April 21, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played junior hockey for the Winkler Flyers before going to the University of North Dakota where he helped the school win the National Collegia ...

had tried to clear the puck around the glass behind the Chicago net, the forechecking Emerson caught the puck with his right glove and skated with the puck in hand from behind the net to the side of side of the right goalpost, where he dropped the puck behind the goal line. The final score in the game was Winnipeg 1, Chicago 0. On May 31, 2010, he was fired as Quebec-based amateur scout for the Montreal Canadiens.

References

External links

NHL.com bio
1948 births Living people Ice hockey people from Quebec City Montreal Canadiens scouts National Hockey League officials {{Sports-official-bio-stub