Kamloops resident Malcolm Ashford spent 11 seasons as an NHL linesman and referee from 1969 to 1980 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

MALCOLM ASHFORD

Former NHL official reflects on living out dream, skating along greats like Lafleur, Bossy

May 4, 2022 | 4:50 PM

KAMLOOPS — Malcolm Ashford enjoyed every moment as an NHL linesman and referee for 11 seasons, and it didn’t take him long to live out the dream.

Beginning his officiating career at 13 years old, he worked his way up the ranks — first in the Western Canadian Hockey League based in Victoria — before being signed by the National Hockey League.

“It was my childhood dream. I made up my mind when I was probably 15 or 16 years that I wanted to referee in the NHL,” said Ashford, who moved to Kamloops three years ago and settled in Sun Rivers. “I was told by some individuals at the time that I would never make it and I did, and I was pretty proud of that.”

When he started in 1969, the 21-year-old Ashford was the second youngest official in the league and had some special assignments.

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“I did work for the very first Canucks game in Vancouver in 1970. They just had the 50th anniversary in Vancouver in October two years ago and I got invited back to be part of that celebration and go out on the ice,” he said.

The celebration in 2020 is enshrined on the wall in his Sun Rivers basement. He also has game sticks from Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull and Stan Makita, but maybe the biggest piece of memorabilia Ashford has is the puck from Hull’s 1,000th NHL point.

“I guess I was kind of sneaky. He did score that 1,000th point in Boston, but I’m not sure everybody at the time realized it was the 1,000th point, so after he scored the goal I went in to collect the puck out of the net, which the linesman normally does after a goal to bring it back to the referee. I thought, ‘That’s kind of a special puck,’ so I just put the puck in my pocket.”

As a linesman, Malcolm Ashford got his hands on Bobby Hull’s 1,000th point in December 1970 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

Hull was one of many great players Ashford had the pleasure of sharing the ice with.

“It was in the day when [Jean] Beliveau was still around, Gordie Howe was still playing, Orr, Guy LaFleur and Mike Bossy, who’ve lost recently and sadly. A lot of great players that I had the opportunity to see.”

Like most of Canada — and especially Montreal Canadiens fans — Ashford watched the national memorial for Guy LaFleur on Tuesday, remembering the Canadiens star as a player that did all of his talking on the ice.

“He was a pretty quiet fellow, just went about his stuff, dazzled everybody with his hair flowing skating down the ice. He went so fast, you had to get out of his way — sort of like the Eddie Shack days,” Ashford laughed. “He was a low-profile player in that sense, but a super hockey player in terms of his skills and what he was able to accomplish as an individual.”

Malcolm Ashford, right, as a linesman in the NHL (Image Credit: Contributed)

After his on-ice officiating career, he spent another 25 years in video review. He says since the 1970s, the game — and how it’s officiated — has changed dramatically.

“It’s big business now. I think the players are bigger and faster and stronger, but the league’s also introduced some rules, their standards of officiating that I kind of look at and kind of shake my head sometimes,” he said. “The little tap on the hands that they’re now calling slashing. In our day, that would never have been called, so the game has changed — the standard of officiating has changed.”

Even though he retired early at 31 years old, Ashford is proud of what he accomplished and satisfied in living out a dream many in Canada have — being on an NHL ice.