Imagine this: an NHL game, live, and then two players, fresh off the ice, grab a whistle and start calling penalties. Sounds like a video game glitch, right? But the NHL has a nearly 100-year-old rule, Rule 31.11, that makes this wild scenario a real, documented part of its history, and it almost had to be dusted off last weekend.
A Near Miss, And The Rulebook’s Deep Dive
Last Saturday, 13 North America-based NHL games went off without a hitch for their officials, which is awesome news for the league. This wasn’t a given, though, because an FAA ground stop order from Friday had already wreaked havoc, forcing reassignments for NFL and NBA officials and impacting college football games all over the place. So, what if an NHL game had been hit by the travel chaos? The league has procedures, of course. If an official can’t continue during a game due to injury, illness, accident, or “misadventure,” they can either play with one fewer official or call in a spare, if one is around. If officials can’t even make it to the arena, the NHL tries hard to find “suitable replacement officials.” But what if that fails? That’s where things get absolutely bonkers.
When Whalers and Devils Players Became Linesmen
This isn’t just a hypothetical thought experiment. Rule 31.11 states that if replacements can’t be found, each team chooses a player to serve as an official. The home team’s pick becomes the referee, and the visiting team’s player serves as a linesperson. And yeah, this actually happened! Back on January 15, 1983, a snowstorm delayed referee Ron Fournier and linesman Dan Marouelli from getting to the Hartford Civic Center for a game between the Hartford Whalers and New Jersey Devils. While everyone waited, the Whalers chose defenseman Mickey Volcan, who was nursing a hand injury and wasn’t even playing that night. The Devils tapped forward Garry Howatt. These two incredible dudes stepped in as linesmen for the entire first period until the regular officials finally arrived in the second. Linesman Ron Foyt, who’d flown in the night before, actually worked as the referee until Fournier was ready. Volcan himself, talking to NHL.com in 2013, remembered the wild call: “All of a sudden, [Whalers coach] Larry Kish said, ‘We’re going to have a player from each team and you’re going to represent our team.’” He continued, “So we put on some sweats and black practice jerseys and they called us in to the room prior to the game. We sat down and he [Foyt] went through it with us.” The Whalers would win the game.
What a ride! This rule is just a testament to how wild the NHL can get. It’s a piece of history that shows the league is always ready for anything, even if it means players are suddenly calling offsides. You gotta love that.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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