I have two jobs. My most recent is director of donor and community relations at The Music Center at Strathmore, and I’ve been doing that for 10 years. I interact with our donors, business sponsors, ticket patrons and artists, and enjoy all the concerts.
My colleagues see me as a very outgoing liaison.
But during the ice hockey season, I’m a little more serious. I leave early on game days to be at the Verizon Center by 5 p.m. For 30 years, I’ve been an off-ice official for the National Hockey League—a statistician, for [lack of] a better word. I keep track of shots on goal, missed shots, goals, assists, hits, penalties, giveaways, takeaways and time-on-ice per player.
I’m expected to capture [the action] within two to three seconds of it happening. Off-ice officials are not enjoying the hockey game as fans; we’re responsible for a function of the game. It is critical that we track the statistics in real time, consistently, night after night, with total impartiality and integrity.
I’m a hockey fan. I’ll watch a hockey game morning, noon or night, college or pro. At my age, I’ve kind of seen it all. I’m from Ann Arbor, Mich., where I played hockey and officiated in the recreational leagues. When I moved to the Washington, D.C., area in the late 1960s, I helped create the hockey officials’ association for the hockey programs here. The organizers of the Washington Capitals’ franchise, in connection with the National Hockey League, reached out to the referees’ association to bring on our guys as off-ice officials when the franchise was formed. We understand the game and are unbiased
The highlight is seeing the skill of these superstar players (in Washington, we have Alex Ovechkin). When you see these guys come to play night after night and they continue to show these skills, it’s really something to watch. The NHL prefers that we do not interact with current players. But I have met Wayne Gretzky and a number of other NHL players and Capitals players since they retired.
Seeing this one team every night, you pick up on [players’] idiosyncrasies and personalities. A perfect pass, a last-second goal—it makes the sport all the more exciting. The Verizon Center can get electric when a goal is scored. But we need to stay focused and credit the players appropriately.
And then to see the artists come through Strathmore and perform for 90 or 120 minutes without an intermission—they’re very entertaining and sound wonderful. The performance season is from September to June, which corresponds with the hockey season. We have to stay for the shows, so if I’m not at the Verizon Center in the evening, I’m at Strathmore. I am constantly amazed by the talent of all the artists who have performed on the Strathmore stage.
Both positions are great opportunities, not really [jobs], more of a joy, and a lot of fun to be a part of.
