Bryan Lewis is Filled With Gratitude for a Life of Wearing the Stripes
By – David McPherson
Cambridge, ON – The great game of hockey has given Bryan Lewis, 83, not just a career, but a life.
“For 68 years I’ve either had a striped shirt on or I’ve cared about people wearing one,” he says.
Born in Alliston, Ont., Lewis’ family moved south to Georgetown before he laced up his first pair of skates. It did not take long before Bryan became a rink rat — playing for the local minor hockey team at the arena downtown or shinny long into the night on the large outdoor rink his parents built between their backyard and their neighbors. “Ice time was never a problem!” he recalls.
Lewis played hockey for his high school team. A stint as goalie for the Dixie Beehives, a junior team that operated from 1954 to 1986, followed. [An aside, the Beehives is where Bryan met his wife [Elaine], one of three daughters of the team owner Howard Pallett. Elaine caught Bryan’s eye when he spotted her one night working behind the concession counter at Dixie Arena. Fifty-nine years on, the couple are still together.]
“When [Howard] said, ‘You want to play hockey for me?’ I replied, ‘Yes, Mr. Pallett I do!’ The joke in our family was always that my future father-in-law then said, ‘Well, you’ll have to marry my daughter!’”
“Get a haircut and pull your pants up!”
In the mid- to late 1960s, the opportunities to further one’s on-ice career were not as plentiful as today, but Bryan longed to stay in hockey.
“You were done playing professionally back then by the age of 20,” he recalls. “So, to get extra ice time, many of us refereed for free throughout our teen years in the local leagues since we already knew the rules. Through this experience we gained valuable leadership skills.”
Later, for $7 a night, Bryan put these skills to work as a linesperson: breaking up fights and making offside calls. It was just a part-time job, and a way to stay on the ice, but the trajectory of his career changed one night when the OHA’s referee-in-chief came into the dressing room with an offer he could not refuse, but it came with a couple of conditions.
“I remember Pat Paterson, who lived in nearby Normal, Ont., coming into the room one day after I had worked the lines and said, ‘You want to be a referee in the OHA?’ I looked up at him and replied, ‘Yes, Mr. Patterson, I do!’ He stared at me and then said: ‘Well, then get a haircut and pull your pants up!’ Those were my first two instructions in order to get a job officiating in the OHA!”
By the time Lewis finished playing junior hockey for the Dixie Beehives, he already had more than a decade of on-ice officiating experience. “That paid off big time when I got into the OHA,” he says.
A Winter’s Night He’ll Never Forget
During his first year as an OHA official, Bryan initially worked as a linesperson. One winter’s night in Brampton, there was some wicked wintry weather and the assigned referee did not make it to the rink, so Lewis was handed the whistle. From that game on he was a referee.
“If I said that a snowstorm turned my career around, that’s partly correct,” Lewis says. “I guess I did okay that night because I’ve worn the black and white stripes and been an on-ice referee ever since.”
Lewis still fondly recalls his weekly visits to the OHA office, located across from Maple Leaf Gardens on Carlton Street in downtown Toronto, to get his assignments.
Next Stop: The Big Leagues
When the National Hockey League (NHL) expanded in 1967, doubling in size from six to 12 teams, more officials were required. Since Lewis and many of his OHA colleagues already had many years of on-ice experience at a high level, it was only natural for them to get a shot at the big leagues.
“I remember going to ‘Gordie Howe Hockeyland’ in Detroit, a training camp of sorts, where we showed our stuff to the referee-in-chief Scotty Morrison. After this ‘try-out,’ I got offered a contract; so did many of my OHA officiating colleagues, including John McCauley.”
No different than today, officials worked their way up one game at a time by gaining experience and learning at every level, starting with junior C, to junior B, to Junior A, etc. For the first three years of his OHA career, Lewis worked in the American Hockey League, the Western Hockey League and the Central Hockey League. Finally, during his third season, he was assigned a few NHL games as a referee.
“After that, I never looked back,” he says. “My very first game officiating in the NHL was a game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1967 as a linesman. I told Scotty [Morrison], who was the league’s referee-in-chief, ‘I haven’t been a linesman in years!’ So, before that game, he had me work a preseason game in Brantford as a linesman for the first period and the next two periods as a referee.”
Lewis enjoyed life as an NHL referee for 20 years, working 1,023 regular season games, plus 30 playoff games and nine Stanley Cup Finals. He became one of the first three NHL referees (along with Bruce Hood and Ron Wicks) to work more than 1,000 regular season games — a milestone he reached at the Montreal Forum. That game was extra special because his mom was in attendance; it was the only time she had ever watched her son officiate a game live. When Scott Morrison offered Lewis a job as a supervisor in the league office, he hung up his black and white stripes, officially retiring as an NHL referee.
As referee supervisor, Lewis worked under NHL director-of-officiating John McCauley. When his mentor passed away suddenly in 1989, Lewis took over, holding this leadership position until the year 2000. Since retiring from the NHL, Lewis has remained active in the sport, working as referee-in-chief for the East Coast Hockey League, the Central Hockey League and the Ontario Athletic Association, scouting other referees, and simply enjoying the game by watching his grandchildren play.
The awards the legendary OHA official has won fill in a room. Just a few include: the OHA Referees Honor Roll (1989), the Thomas Ebright Memorial Award from the American Hockey League (1999), the OHA Gold Stick Award (2009), and induction into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (2023).
What matters far more to Lewis than all these accomplishments and the accolades is why he received them: because he cared about the game. He is forever grateful for the life and for the opportunities hockey has – and continues to – give him.
“I used to say, ‘I’ve skated from Georgetown to Vancouver and I’m in Winnipeg on my way home!’ equating the amount of miles of skating I’ve done in my officiating career,” Lewis concludes. “I guess someday I’ll have to stop, but as long as I’m able, and I feel I can help and coach somebody to be a little bit better, call me.”
About the Ontario Hockey Association
The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) was founded on November 27, 1890, and is the governing body for the majority of Junior and Senior hockey in the Province of Ontario. It is comprised of three Junior hockey leagues and two Senior hockey leagues: Junior A – Ontario Junior Hockey League; Junior B – Greater Ontario Hockey League; Junior C – Provincial Junior Hockey League, Senior –Allan Cup Hockey (AAA) and Ontario Elite Hockey League (AA). For the 2025-2026 season, these five leagues encompass 123 teams. 3100 players, and about 6,000 games each hockey season. The majority of our players are 16 to 21 years of age.
The objectives of the OHA are to foster and encourage the sport of amateur hockey, to conduct competition in the various categories established, to determine teams for entry into the inter-branch competitions that may be provided by Hockey Canada, and to provide for the affiliation of other hockey organizations.
The OHA provides administrative resources, coordinates programs, services and events for hockey participants and provides support to various Development Programs for coaches, officials, trainers and players, Safety and Risk Management Issues and offers resources for Harassment and Abuse education.
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For more information or to set up an interview, please contact:
Chris McCleary
General Manager, Operations & Marketing
Ontario Hockey Association
