Mick McGeough

Michael Francis McGeough ( ; June 20, 1956 – November 23, 2018) was an ice hockey referee, who officiated in the National Hockey League (NHL), wearing number 19 from the 1994–95 NHL season until his 2008 retirement.

Career His NHL career began in 1987. his final career regular season game was the Anaheim Ducks – Los Angeles Kings contest on April 5, 2008.

In retirement, he began helping the NHL bring up new referee recruits from the American Hockey League and was named to the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

Mick was the older brother of NHL-player Jim McGeough, formerly of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals, as well as ex-Canadian Junior football player and coach, Tim McGeough.

Controversies and other incidents After giving up the game-winning goal to the Ottawa Senators' Rob Zamuner during Game 3 of first round of the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs, an irate Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph charged after McGeough to argue that goaltender interference should have been called. Joseph then stumbled and bumped the referee to the ice. A misconduct penalty was called on Joseph, but he was not ejected from the game, and the NHL later decided not to suspend him.

In a regular season game between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers on November 4, 2006, with the Stars up 3–2 with 4.1 seconds left in regulation, McGeough waved off what would have been a game-tying goal by Edmonton's Ales Hemsky, ruling that Oilers' centre Shawn Horcoff had made a glove pass prior to Hemsky touching the puck. Replays however clearly showed there was no infraction. The Stars ended up winning the game, as angry fans at Rexall Place littered the ice with debris. The NHL later admitted that the call was wrong, but also fined Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish US$10,000 for his post-game comments in which he said that McGeough's call was "retarded" and that he should be suspended. At 3:14 of the third period, Ottawa goaltender Martin Gerber appeared to have stopped a shot by St. Louis' Brad Boyes. Replays later showed that the puck actually crossed the goal line before Gerber pulled it back to smother it, but play was immediately resumed without a video review.

In the 2018-19 NHL season, referees honoured McGeough by wearing a jersey arm patch with the word “MICK”.