Matt Pavelich

Matt Pavelich
Born	March 12, 1934 (1934-03-12) (age 77) Park Hill Gold Mines, Ontario, Canada
NHL team	Detroit Red Wings
Playing career	1955–1986
Hall of Fame, 1987

Matt Pavelich (born March 12, 1934) is a Canadian ice-hockey linesman.

Early career

He began officiating when he was fourteen, working minor hockey games in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. By the time he was twenty, he was referee-in-chief of the Northern Michigan Intermediate League.

Pavelich worked in the American Hockey League in the 1955–56 season but at age twenty-two, he made his National Hockey League début on October 11, 1956. His older brother Marty Pavelich had been a player with the Detroit Red Wings since 1947 and when the younger Pavelich joined the NHL in 1956, it marked the first time in NHL history that there had been a player/official brother combination.

Career in the NHL

He retired after 31 years and 1,727 regular season games, second only to Neil Armstrong. He also officiated 245 playoff games, second only to John D'Amico. After that Pavelich became the NHL's supervisor of officials for referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison. In 1987, Pavelich was the first linesman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Pavelich is in his ninth season with the United Hockey League. He served the league as a Supervisor of Officials as well as the Director of Player Discipline for the first half of the 1998–99 season.

See also

	Biography portal
	Ice hockey portal

• List of Detroit Red Wings players
• List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame
• List of NHL on-ice officials

External links

• Matt Pavelich's biography at Legends of Hockey

Persondata
Name	Pavelich, Matt
Alternative names
Short description	hockey linesman
Date of birth	March 12, 1934
Place of birth	Park Hill Gold Mines, Ontario, Canada
Date of death
Place of death