Note: Butch Mousseau passed away today several hours after this blog was written. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.
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On March 18 during the warm-ups of the WCHA semifinals in Grand Rapids, longtime WCHA referee Oliver "Butch" Mousseau fell awkwardly. He sustained a severe head injury and has been in critical condition. Butch had his hands in his pockets as he casually skating backwards when he tripped and heavily struck his head.
At Mercy Health St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Butch was put in a medically-induced coma in an effort to expedite the decrease of swelling on his brain. There have been some hopeful signs. His oxygen levels have improved while on antibiotic treatments for a lung infection. However, his intracranial pressure has stayed about the same.
Butch is one of our game's truly good people, and my thoughts and prayers are with him, his wife Macaire and their three kids.
Here are three ways we can show our support for Butch and his family.
1) As a 100 percent not-for-profit effort, Texas-based official Randy Sappo has created art prints with officials' jerseys -- there are both referee and linesman versions -- with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly to Butch's family.
Please show your support for Butch Mousseau and his family. pic.twitter.com/uJtdeCZFfF
— Paul Stewart (@PaulStewart22) March 25, 2016
3) Colorado-based Dawg Nation Hockey has set up a donation fund for Butch -- and have been contributing $3 for every $1 donated. For more information, click here or go directly to Butchy's PayPal page.
Sadly, what happened to Butch was a preventable accident. As both a safety and best-practice reminder to young and experienced officials alike, please do not skate with your hands in your pockets. Also wear proper head protection at all times when on the ice.
On another sad note, former HockeyBuzz writer and longtime radio show host Howard Berger wrote on Facebook that Ron Wicks -- who served 26 years as an active NHL referee 1960 to 1986 -- is losing his battle with liver cancer. Howard shared a note from Ron:
Hi there friends... My disease has caught up with me and I hope to stick around to watch the Masters, and then soon my journey here may be ending but continuing from up above the clouds. I'll be keeping an eye on you.You may pass this news on to any others.
Currently I am at Brampton Civic Hospital, Palliative Care 5N room 481. Thanks for joining me on my skate around the rink.
Ron Wicks
We all live with knowledge of our mortality but to be confronted directly by it -- and this is something I can speak of with first-hand experience from being a cancer survivor -- is a whole other matter. My thoughts and prayers are with Ron and his family.
Ron's quarter-century long career in the NHL was still going strong when I played in the NHL for the Quebec Nordiques as well as during my preseason tryout stints with the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres. However, the first time I really got to know him was during my first NHL officiating camp in 1983.
Not everyone at that camp treated me very kindly. As an American, a recently retired player (an enforcer at that) and as the grandson of a famed NHL referee and coach and son of a Boston-area officiating and coaching legend, some of the guys at the camp were resentful or mistrustful of me and bound and determined to see they could get me to crack.
Ron Wicks most certainly was NOT one of the ones who mistreated me. Ron warmly welcomed me to camp and always treated me with kindness and compassion. He retired before I advanced to full-time status in the NHL (1987) but we got to know each other over the years.
Ron and I worked the Alumni Game together at the All-Star Game in Tampa Bay when the NHL introduced John Cullen, Rocket Richard and myself as the Hockey Fights Cancer honorary chairmen in 1999.
Fast ice and clean goals, Ron. You are a good man and your place in our game's rich history is secure.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart serves as director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.