D’Amico passes away

John D'Amico, inducted into the officials' category of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993 after a 23-year year on-ice career, passed away Sunday night at the age of 67, the National Hockey League announced Monday.

The Hall of famer from the Toronto area will be remembered fondly in the Gateway city for helping out Easter Seals kids in the area.

D’Amico helped raise $250,000.00 during the John D’Amico Skate-a-thon that took place for 14 years at Memorial Gardens.

The provincial program was a brain-child of the NHL linesman, which allowed young offenders in custody to take pledges and make a contribution to society.

Colin Vezina was one of the local organizers and he was sad to hear the news of his passing.

“He was a real inspiration for all of us,” said Vezina who still exchanged Christmas cards with D’Amico.

“He had an idea for kids to help kids.”

D’Amico only made a couple appearances at the local event, but was also a close friend of the late Leo Labine.

D'Amico began his career as an NHL referee, officiating his first game on October 12th, 1964. After 22 games as a referee, he began his career as a linesman.

During the next 22 years he would officiate in 1,689 regular season games. He also worked 247 Stanley Cup Playoff games, including 52 games in the Finals over 20 years as well as six international hockey series.

Following his retirement in 1987, John moved to the front office as a supervisor of officials.


with files from TSN.ca