Fred Waghorne - Officiating

Officiating

Waghorne is best known for his prolific career as a referee. He is known to have officiated 2,400 hockey games and 1,500 lacrosse matches. Many of the decisions he made on the ice rink became long-term rules in both amateur and professional ice hockey. Waghorne is credited with several changes and innovations to ice hockey rules, such as:

• The use of a whistle instead of the customary cow bell to stop play when fans started bringing their own cowbells to disrupt game play.
• The acceptance of professional referees in amateur hockey games.
• The practice of dropping the puck from a few feet up at faceoff rather than placing it directly on the ice, which limited player contact with the referee's shins and ankles during faceoffs.
• The ruling that if a half of a broken hockey puck entered the net, no goal was counted - a rule that led to the development of one-piece pucks.