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Andy Van Hellemond
Andy Van Hellemond
Born	February 16, 1948 (age 76); Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Occupation	Ice hockey referee
Years active	1969–1997
Employer	National Hockey League
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1999
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1999
Guelph City Councillor for Ward 2 — St. George's
	In office; 2010–2018
Preceded by	Vicki Beard and Ian Findlay
Succeeded by	James Gordon and Rodrigo Goller

Andy Van Hellemond (born February 16, 1948) is a Canadian former National Hockey League referee and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame since 1999. He is also a former municipal politician, serving on city council for the City of Guelph, Ontario, from 2010 to 2018.

Officiating career

Van Hellemond's NHL officiating career began in 1969 and included 19 Stanley Cup Finals.^[1]^[2] In 1984, he became the first NHL on-ice official to wear a helmet; four years later, the NHL made helmets mandatory for all on-ice officials (however, any official who was not wearing a helmet at the time of the ruling could continue to go helmetless if they so desired).^[3] Subsequently, several officials followed his lead, and beginning with the 2006–07 NHL season, all NHL on-ice officials were compelled to wear helmets. He also officiated 1,557 regular season games and 227 playoff games. Van Hellemond has been the NHL's #1 referee for 14 consecutive times. He also officiated in two All-Star games, the 1979 Challenge Cup, and Rendez-vous '87.

From the 1977–78 to 1993–94 seasons, NHL officials' jerseys displayed their last names on the back. Due to its length, his name was displayed in two lines. From the 1994–95 NHL season until his retirement in 1997, he wore uniform number 25, which was later worn by Marc Joannette.^[4]^[5]

After retiring as an on-ice official, Van Hellemond held a management position with the East Coast Hockey League until being hired by the NHL in 2000 to replace Bryan Lewis as Director of Officiating. Van Hellemond remained director of officiating until July 2004, when he was asked by Colin Campbell to resign from the position because of concern over the former's personal gambling debts.^[6]

In July 2011, Van Hellemond served the creators of the comic strip Adam@home with a notice of intention to sue for libel over a comic that used the word "evil" in referring to Van Hellemond as "the worst and most evil ref ever." Newspapers carrying the strip, including the Toronto Star and The Boston Globe, were also served.^[7]^[8]

Political career

Van Hellemond was a candidate for City Councillor during the 2010 municipal election in the city of Guelph, Ontario.^[9] He was elected to Ward Two, winning with 29.86% of the vote over both incumbents.^[10]

In 2014, Van Hellemond was elected for a second term as City Councillor for Ward 2, in the Guelph municipal election.^[11] Van Hellemond was not a candidate for City Council in the 2018 Elections.^[12]

Awards and achievements

MJHL First All-Star Team (1968)
Selected as Manitoba's Referee of the Century
Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999
"Honoured Member" of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame

References

^ "Andy Van Hellemond". Hockey Hall of Fame.
^ "Andy Van Hellemond". Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.
^ Shoalts, David (April 28, 2000). "Ex ref supports mandatory helmets". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 29, 2019. The NHL has 60 referees and linesmen under contract and among them are 11 men who do not wear helmets. This is allowed through a grandfather clause in the collective agreement between the NHL Officials' Association and the league, which made wearing helmets mandatory beginning with the 1988-89 season. However, just as the NHL did with its players when helmets became compulsory for them in 1979, a grandfather clause was inserted in the agreement. All referees and linesmen who were employed on or before Sept. 1, 1988 did not have to wear a helmet.
^ "Andy Van Hellemond". TheHockeyWriters.com. The Hockey Writers. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ "Marc Joannette". NHLOfficials.com. National Hockey League Officials Association. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
^ Altobelli, Lisa. "Blowing the Whistle". si.com. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
^ Fecshuk, Dave (July 1, 2011). "Fescuk:Van Hellemond calls misconduct on cartoonist". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
^ English, Kathy (July 1, 2011). "English: comic strip was offside". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
^ "Andy van Hellemond « Guelph Votes". Archived from the original on September 29, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
^ "Municipal elections".
^ "Guelph Votes". City of Guelph. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
^ "ELECTION 2018: Billings in, van Hellemond Out". July 27, 2018.