In each hand, Clem Lapointe holds a rulebook for hockey referees.One is small, worn and with a sketched image on the front that, if you look hard, resembles a goalie stretching to block a puck.The other is glossy and modern, with colour photographs, professional binding and graphics.These two rule manuals—one from 1969 and one from 2012— serve as bookends to Lapointe's refereeing career that nearly reached the half-century mark but for a work injury last summer.After he pulled his knee and hurt his shoulder at his landscaping business in 2013, Lapointe, 67, had to put away his whistle, one year shy of his 50th anniversary of refereeing minor hockey.When the past season began, he did attempt to hit the ice to see if he could manage officiating a game or two even for part of the season.When it became clear he was putting his knee, and his career, at risk, however, he decided to err on the side of caution, despite how much he wanted to be out on the rink.“I missed it a lot. I tried skating but it just didn't work. I decided that I didn't want to injure my knee anymore,” Lapointe said, adding he hasn't let missing the 50-year mark bring him down. “It feels alright. I think I've given up a lot of my years, I had fun, it was all enjoyable. Most of the time anyway.”Lapointe served as an official on the ice in Olds for the last 25 years of his career, but his refereeing days began in a town five-and-a-half hours away.“It all happened in Bonnyville when they were short for linesmen,” he said. “I knew the person in charge of refereeing and he knew me because I worked for him. And he called me and asked if I wanted to do some lining.”In the early days, he only helped out with line work here and there—he didn't register as a referee until 1968— and his background playing hockey as a defenceman and right-winger helped him appreciate the player's point of view when he was officiating.Especially since he could relate to those players who were hard on him during a game.“As a player I was always the toughest person on the referee.”He said he officiated to have fun and took extra time to work with the players and explain to them the reasons they were given a penalty.The biggest difference Lapointe saw in players and fans at the beginning of his career—which took him from Bonnyville to Edmonton to Lethbridge to Olds—compared to the end was how much respect people had for each other on and off the ice.“I think mostly it's because they had respect for themselves,” he said. “There are things that are done today that you wouldn't dare do years ago. “Because even your teammate would gang up on you if you did something like that. Today, they're not responsible for their actions.”The other thing that changed towards the end of his career was, of course, how many hours he could log on the ice.Ten years ago, Lapointe said, it was nothing for him to referee games from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., thanks to a physical constitution built up from manual work and summer biking.“I would do up to eight games in a row sometimes.”In later years, however, he would tire more easily.Lapointe refereed all levels of minor hockey and as referee-in-chief of the Olds Minor Hockey Association, he recruited and offered guidance to many of the referees still serving on the ice today.“He had mentored and developed a number of referees who have come up through the ranks,” said Norm McInnis, the association's current referee-in-chief who took over from Lapointe two years ago, adding Lapointe also helped many players through their minor hockey career.“He really has touched the lives of a number of youth as they've come through the program and refereeing and he really should be celebrated.”McInnis also served as the association's president when Lapointe was the association's executive director and he said the organization is still “filling the gaps” left by Lapointe's departure.“I don't think that people understand the amount of work that Clem did for that organization,” he said. “He did just yeoman's work. He was there day and night and I think he's held that organization together in a number of ways.”For example, McInnis said, Lapointe was responsible for building up the Olds Sports Complex concession system to maximize profits in order to subsidize registration fees for minor hockey.He added it is truly regrettable that Lapointe's injury prevented just one more season of refereeing.“The saddest piece about it is we really wanted to give him a game this year because it would have been 50 years of refereeing for Clem.”But Lapointe, whose favourite memory of refereeing in Olds was the fun the officials would have together, said he has no regrets about how his career came to a close.“It's been a good life. I have enjoyed it. If I had to start over, I'd probably do it again.”[email protected]
