NHL Linesman Brad Kovachik finally made it to the Stanley Cup Final. After donning the stripes for over 1,200 National Hockey League Games, the 17-year veteran official worked his first Cup Final this past season, manning the lines for Games Two and Four between the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers. Now, his hometown of Woodstock, Ontario, has recognized his efforts.
“It’s an honour. Anytime you get acknowledged by your hometown it’s a great honour,” said Kovachik.
From Greg Colgan at the Woodstock Sentinel Review:
For Kovachik, the past year has been the favourite of his career.
From being selected to officiate the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia to working two games in the Stanley Cup finals, he said being chosen for the biggest games is what every referee wants.
NHL Linesman Brad Kovachik (#71)
“You like to be called upon to do big games. In our line of work you always want to achieve some type of consistency,” Kovachik said, “and I think it shows that you have to be consistent night in and night out. You reach the level of consistency every night and your supervisors and boss have faith in you.”
“When you start playing hockey you always have the dream of playing in the NHL, but you come to a certain point in your career when the hockey player side of it isn’t to be had,” he said of turning to officiating. “I’ve been referring since I was 12 years old, so I worked my way up and I had a lot of good friends that were referees and taught me the right way to do things and I got lucky along the way and it snowballed and here I am.”
Our congratulations go out to Brad Kovachik. Read the full story over at the Woodstock Sentinel Review.
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