Those Who Can't, Learn To Whistle

Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe has a Sunday profile of Bill McGoldrick, a 23-year-old New Englander who has landed a job as a referee with the US Hockey League. The article explains how his journey through different levels of officiating mirrors that of a burgeoning player prospect, but settles on one particular thesis: McGoldrick wasn't good enough to make the NHL as a player, so he's chosen to join the big show by coming through the ranks as an on-ice official:

Like any kid who had grown up with a hockey stick glued to his hands, McGoldrick imagined himself in skates in the National Hockey League. The farthest he made it as a player was college at Framingham State. He believes he will get to the NHL one way or another. The path for most ex-players would be coaching, or the front office, or as a trainer. But McGoldrick still wants to be on the ice.

"The reason why I want to continue to be a referee is for the same reason I grew up playing," he said. "I wanted to make it to the NHL, and that's something I know I cannot do as a player. So, being an official is the only other option really, being involved or being on the ice."

To either the discredit of Benbow or McGoldrick (or both), the article fails to disclose any passion that McGoldrick has for maintaining the integrity or enforcing the rules of the game -- you know, that boring old "referee" stuff. But it clearly frames McGoldrick's career track to NHL officiating -- and give him credit for sticking with it -- as "a dream" for an ex-player; one who'll gladly pick up the whistle if it means skating alongside talent he never possessed.

I'll gladly accept the shortcomings of my own naivety: That every rookie cop wants a chance to enforce the law, every newbie firefighter wants the chance to save lives and every referee is in it for the betterment of the game. But the reality is that some guys just like guns, some guys just like the women who hang around firehouses and some guys will jump into goon scuffles for a chance to skate on NHL ice. Not sure about you, but I despise the notion that vocations that can literally determine the outcome of a professional hockey game are being sought by star-struck ingenues who speak about the job almost as if it's like being a glorified stick-boy.