ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The local hockey fraternity is mourning the loss of hall of fame official Don Walsh.
Walsh, from St. John’s, died Thursday.
A 2003 inductee into the Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador Hall of Fame, Walsh was for many years the finest referee in the province throughout a career that spanned 35 years.
Walsh joined the St. John’s Junior and Senior Hockey Referees Association in 1966, and throughout the 1970s and ’80s, was one of the few elite referees to call provincial senior hockey and other high-level games across the province, including Allan Cup and international exhibition play.
He was one of two local officials to work Atlantic intercollegiate hockey games during the years in which Memorial University entered a team in that circuit.
A funeral service will be held at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist 9:30 a.m. Monday in St. John’s.
