03/08/2025
Below is a piece that Chris Stevenson wrote following a recent interview with Rideau View member and NHL referee Ghislain Hebert. Best wishes on your big day today and congratulations on this significant milestone!
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Rideau View member and NHL referee Ghislain Hebert is looking forward to a grand occasion Saturday!
Hebert will celebrate officiating 1,000 games in the NHL when the Ottawa Senators host the New York Rangers for a crucial afternoon meeting with playoff implications at Canadian Tire Centre.
But while Hebert will be the centre of attention, he said the day is more about recognizing what his family and friends have meant during his journey to this milestone.
“I think I’m going to have close to 70-80 guests at the game,” he said. “It’s a chance for me to recognise my family and my friends. The guys will tell you the hardest part of the job is we’re away all the time. It’s a lot of sacrifice for the family. My in-laws help me in the winter time. They drive my son who plays competitive hockey and my daughter is in dance. It takes a team on our side to do that. That’s a nice part.”
The native of Bathurst, NB, started officiating when he was 12 years old and worked his way up the ranks. While attending the University of Moncton, he worked university games and started working as a linesman in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League.
As the players got bigger and faster, it was suggested to Hebert, who is about six feet tall, that he might be getting in over his head as a linesman and was switched to referee.
A camp in Minnesota got him noticed and he was hired to work games in the old Central Hockey League. That led to games in the ECHL and then the American Hockey League. He worked his first NHL game in February 2009.
NHL officials are required to live close to an NHL city (“With the amount of travel, Moncton airport wouldn’t have cut it,” he said with a laugh) and Ottawa made sense for Hebert and his family. They made the move here in 2015.
“We had to submit three cities. For me, coming from the French side and my wife is a French school teacher, I thought for me it was a good mix. There were two linesmen — Derek Nansen and Steve Barton from Vankleek Hill — but they had no referees (based out of Ottawa), so there was a spot available.”
The Hebert’s have a family membership at Rideau View and he figures he plays 25-30 games a season. He sneaks in a round here or there during the winter when his travel schedule takes him south and time permits.
When NHL officials celebrate a milestone or their last game before retirement, they get to choose the rest of the crew to work the game. It will be an all Maritime team Saturday as Hebert will work with fellow referee Jean Hebert (no relation, who’s from Bouctouche, NB) and linesmen Jesse Marquis (also from Bouctouche) and Matt MacPherson (Antigonish, NS).
They are all friends who started out and worked together in the Quebec league.
Hebert will become the 13th referee on a current staff of 44 in the NHL to work 1,000 games.
“It’s a nice honour to get to a thousand. It’s a nice recognition,” he said. “Everybody will tell you that when they start in this business. I’m no different, I started at a young age and I took the traditional route of how officials graduate to the NHL. Now the process is a little different. With the speed of the game, they kind of aim for ex-players and fast track them into officiating. I’m the old traditional way.
“I was a bad hockey player that just tried to make a living. For me to get to a thousand is a nice honour. It’s a recognition of a lot of work and sacrifice.”
By Chris Stevenson
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