BRIGHTON, Mich. — National Hockey League referee Dan O’Halloran recently wrapped his season and is spending some time in the area his wife grew up in. The Essex, Ontario-native first caught the eye of 1985 Wawasee High School graduate Michelle Conley while officiating a Fort Wayne Komets game in the 1980s. While the then-Conley was in town for a friend’s wedding, the two met at a Fort Wayne restaurant, where they struck up a conversation and realized they actually lived close to each other. “We decided to go out on a date, because I lived in Windsor (Ontario), which is just across the bridge from Detroit (close to where Michelle lived),” O’Halloran said. The meeting led to a marriage which will celebrate its 22nd anniversary in September. The meeting also led to the birth of a son, Devin, who was born without an enzyme which helps to clean the liver. Missing the enzyme, Devin developed cirrhosis of the liver, but he received a transplant and recently celebrated his 17th year with the transplant. “I’m fortunate to have a job that allows me to spend time with my wife and with Devin,” O’Halloran. “Having the summers off, and with him having his transplant in the summer, I was fortunate to have the time to spend with him while he was recovering.” Along with his son’s ailment, O’Halloran suffered a life-threatening event of his own as a 18-year-old in Detroit. After officiating a bantam hockey game in Windsor, he and some friends traveled to Detroit to grab a bite to eat. On the way back, the group became lost and someone fired shots into their car, hitting O’Halloran in the chest. After finding a police officer, O’Halloran was taken to the hospital, where he arrived in time to survive. However, given the episode he went through, he says watching his son suffer was worse. “Going through my accident was one thing, but going through what he went through was way tougher,” he said. Trying as both of those incidents were, he’s fortunate to have overcome them and appears to be living the good life, working as an NHL referee. “I’m fortunate to do a job I love,” he said. “Not everybody can say that.” Dropping the puck for the first time at the tender age of 10, O’Halloran worked his way through the ranks. “I started refereeing games in the town I grew up in just to make some extra money,” he said. “It was a pretty good part-time job for me. “I played (the game) up until I was 18, then decided to go to college,” he added. “So, I quit playing and kept refing, just to make money while I was in college.” Like players, O’Halloran’s work in the minor leagues caught the attention of the higher-ups, allowing him work at the highest level. He made his NHL debut on Oct. 1, 1995 and quickly noticed a difference in the players he was officiating. “Everything’s quicker,” he said. “Everyone’s bigger, stronger and faster. You really have to pick up your game and show the bosses your capable. Obviously, it worked out for me.” It’s worked very well. He just wrapped up his latest season by officiating the Stanley Cup Finals between the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils earlier this month. The finals were his fifth since 2007 and he also officiated the 2010 Olympic gold medal game in Vancouver. To ref those kinds of games, you have to be pretty good and have the respect of his peers. “I’m very fortunate to have the support of my colleagues,” he said. “It takes a long time to gain that acceptability.” Along with the other refs, he’s also earned the respect of players and coaches, having come up through the same minor league system. “It seems like, when you go through the minor league system, you go through at the same time as players and coaches also,” he said. “That helps, because they’ve seen you go through the system with them and they learn what your personality is like and your tolerance level. Now, when you’re in the NHL, you’re familiar with each other and that helps a lot.” But just like players, time slows down the legs, and careers, of referees. “We work until our bodies tell us we can’t do it anymore,” the 48-year-old said. “Physically, your body starts to slow down as you age. Typically, our guys go into their early- and mid-50s. That’s when the game becomes a little too fast for what you’re body will let you do.” But it’s not just the physical aspect that can drain a ref. “Mentally, one thing I definitely do is take a break from the game,” he said. “When I take a break from the game, I don’t read articles and try to stay away from some of the negatives that come with officiating. There’s always times when teams blame their issues on the officiating. If you read that stuff, you can get caught up in it and it can affect you negatively.” In the offseason, he says his family leaves their Brighton, Mich. residence to visit their local home near Tippecanoe Lake. In Brighton, Michelle is the owner and instructor at Jazzercise Fitness Center. “She owns her own business, which she has been successful at,” O’Halloran said. The couple also does charity work, such as Sunday’s golf event at Fox Hills Country Club in Plymouth, Mich. The eight-annual event, which the O’Hallorans partnered with the University of Michigan Transplant Center for, will help raise money to send kids with transplants to camp. Working with the charity is something close to his heart, and anything he can do to help his family exceeds anything he does around professional hockey players. “Those two have given me the support to be successful in this job,” he said. “Without them helping me, I never would have gotten this far.”
