Long-time NHL linesman Danny McCourt passes away

One of the league’s longest-tenured on-ice officials has passed away.

The NHL has announced that former linesman Danny McCourt died on Sunday at the age of 70 after a long illness.

McCourt worked the lines in the league for 25 years. The native of the Greater Sudbury area got his call-up to the NHL as an official in 1979 when the league expanded to include four WHA franchises. He would work all the way through the 2003-04 season, when he decided to hang up his skates.

McCourt traded his striped shirt for a job with the NHL’s officiating department, where he worked in scouting and development for close to two decades.

While he never got to work a Stanley Cup Final, McCourt was on the crew officiating the 1990 NHL All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.

Hockey runs deep in McCourt’s blood. Along with himself playing through the junior ranks, Dan’s younger brother Dale played for the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs. His uncle, the late George Armstrong, captained the Maple Leafs to four Stanley Cups.

Along with his work in the NHL, McCourt never stayed away from his hometown for too long. He helped give tips and guidance to officials in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, a Junior A league based in the region where he grew up, over the past 12 seasons. McCourt worked alongside league supervisors to improve the league’s officiating.

“The entire NOJHL sends its deepest condolences to Dan’s family, friends and all those who knew him,” the NOJHL said in a statement. “From the supervision of game officials, to providing guidance during the course of their assignments, he presented abounding direction in their progress over the course of each campaign. That valuable insight to the league referees and those working the lines, earned the respect of all those he was associated with.”