Longtime NHL referee Tim Peel discusses relationships between refs and goaltenders

McKenna: That doesn’t really surprise me about Tuukka. Everyone I know that’s played with him has a fun story about their time together. He always came across as very genuine. Are there any other goaltenders that you fondly remember having conversations with?

Peel: Definitely. I absolutely loved talking to Cujo (Curtis Joseph). He was great. I think sometimes he just wanted to get away from the moment. Roberto Luongo was awesome. One of my favorite guys – and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone – was Marc-Andre Fleury.

Another favorite was Robin Lehner. A lot of the other officials didn’t get along with him for whatever reason. But I really got along well with Robin. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s been very open about his struggles and what he’s been through. I always wanted him to feel like I cared about him and that’s what I tried to do with most players.

McKenna: My grandpa was a referee and worked his last game just a few weeks before he passed away at age 76. Wearing the stripes was in his blood. Grandpa and I were very close. And if anyone knew how to find an edge in life, it was him. He taught me the importance of being on the good side of the officials. But it has to be genuine. Can a player sometimes go too far?

Peel: Oh yeah. One goalie in particular. He was a talker. And then one time when a call didn’t go his way, he crossed the line verbally towards me. I guess he assumed that since we had a good relationship, that he was fine to act like that. I lost a lot of respect for him because he thought he could use our relationship to gain an advantage. 

McKenna: What was your most important message you want to get across to goaltenders?

Peel: I wanted to always make the goalies feel like I was there to protect them. I’d tell them that I would handle players taking advantage of you or trying to injure you. There would be times obviously where I would miss things. But I think that in the back of their head they knew I was there to at least protect them. And that’s what they wanted.

McKenna: I think that goes a long way towards the goalie feeling comfortable in their crease. I’ve been on the ice with officials that haven’t even bothered to come over and say hello. That always left me wondering what to expect. How far can I go protecting my crease? If someone runs me over, will I get the call? Those were real questions I’d ask myself.

Peel: Sometimes I would come up to them and say: “Hey, I know that guy is pushing the limit on the edge of the crease, but I will take care of you. So please don’t retaliate.” Especially to someone like Robin who knows how to handle himself. I’d be clear about it: “Don’t retaliate. I will handle it. I’ll protect you.”

McKenna: So would you handle the situation differently depending on the game itself or was it more dependent upon the goalie? For example: would you have felt safe going to Marc-Andre Fleury in almost any instance? Or were there times when you would just give the goaltender space?

Peel: It really mattered how good the relationship was. I would kind of read every instance. Sometimes I knew what I needed to do was step back and let him gather his thoughts. Maybe it was the wrong time to come over because emotions were running high. He might be in the zone where he doesn’t want to talk to anybody.

McKenna: I know that feeling well. There are times that nothing goes correctly and you just need to get away from everything and everyone. It didn’t happen often in my career. But when it did – watch out. I know I wasn’t pleasant. I’m sure officials deal with similar emotions during the course of a game. But you guys don’t have the luxury of skating away. You always have to be available. With regards to goaltenders: were any situations particularly stressful?

Peel: You don’t want to blow the play dead when the goalie doesn’t have the puck covered. There’d be times where they would yell at me and say: “You know I had it covered!” I would just try to explain to them: I’ve got to make sure it’s covered. We’ve got video review. And if you had it covered, then we can go back and make sure. The worst thing as a referee is blowing the whistle when the puck is not covered and it goes into the back of the net.

McKenna: I know that goalies can be really standoffish. Growing up, I heard plenty of stories about netminders that wouldn’t talk to anyone on a game day. They were too busy focusing. It was almost expected. But then I saw Martin Brodeur talking to officials and teammates between whistles. That changed me. He was all business when the puck dropped. But during downtime he was just another guy. He was smiling and having fun. Over your career did you see any change in how goalies interacted with teammates and officials?

Peel: No, not really. They’re all different. Some guys just wanted to focus on their game. Like (Frederik) Andersen in Carolina – when he was with Toronto he didn’t want to be talked to. Craig Anderson – you can talk to him. Carey Price: I would say “Hey Pricer” and he’d say “How you doing today, Timmy?” and that was it. He wasn’t being standoffish – it was that he was so focused on the ice. I just knew his personality.

So I would never try to change the way a goalie approached the game just to try to become friends with him. In hindsight, I think I was smart enough to figure out which goalies liked to be talked to. Which I could at least say hi to. And then the ones that just wanted to play the game.

McKenna: You mentioned Roberto Luongo. How did the conversation go with him after St. Louis Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo fired a puck off your groin that ricocheted past the Florida Panthers netminder?

Peel: So I’m back on the ice a couple minutes later and first thing there’s a faceoff in Florida’s end. And (Luongo) goes: “Are you okay?” and I go “Yeah, I’m good.” Then I said: “But you know what, for the rest of my career I’m going to be able to say that I scored on Roberto Luongo.” And he started laughing.

So the funny part was three nights later I’m in Chicago and (Florida) started James Reimer that game. Luongo comes up to me as we’re skating around warming up. And he goes: “Peelsy, they won’t even start me when you’re reffing our team now!” He had such a good sense of humor.