The StarPhoenix had a great write-up on NHL linesman Mark Wheler and his brother Ken, an off-ice supervisor. Both are representing Canada at the Sochi Olympics.
“I joke with people that my mom phoned and said that [my brother Ken] couldn’t go if I couldn’t go,” said NHL linesman Mark Wheler. “That really didn’t happen, but that’s what I tell people.”
NHL Linesman Mark Wheler (#56)
While Mark has worked over 1400 NHL games, including three appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Olympics are still a highlight.
“It could be the biggest stage that I’ve ever been on,” Mark told the StarPhoenix. “When you get to the Stanley Cup final, it’s the only game in town, in North America, whereas this is the world and presumably all the best players from every nation in the world.
“I just look at them as being very different. One is such a war of attrition for those two teams to get there and, as an official, you’ve battled all season and two months further to get to there, too, and, as a North American kid, that’s kind of what you dream of, but the world stage aspect of the Olympics, you can’t deny how big that is.”
Read the full story over at the StarPhoenix, including how the Wheler brothers got their start.
