Don Koharski completed a 32-year on-ice NHL career and has been one of the top officials in the National Hockey League, refereeing over 1,500 NHL games. He has had the honour of refereeing 1,506 regular-season games, 235 playoff games, 11 Stanley Cup finals, Canada Cup finals in 1987 and 1991, and NHL All-Star games in 1992 and 2000.

In 1996, Koharski was recognized for refereeing his 1,000th NHL game, and in 2006, he was honoured for his 1,500th game. He is currently the NHL’s second most senior official behind referee Kerry Fraser. This past year, Koharski was invited to be the Honorary Referee-In-Chief of the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships held here in Halifax.

Not only has he made it to the big leagues, but, through his hockey official training camps, he has allowed at least three others to reach the NHL along with him. With his leadership and knowledge of hockey, he has influenced those he has taught and all others who strive to officiate in the NHL.

Annual Program

Based on our common understanding, the term “trail blazer” describes an innovative leader in his or her chosen field; a pioneer—someone who through hard work, pluck and determination shows others the way. These people usually have a gift that enables them to lead by example.

If you look closely, you will see that throughout Nova Scotia’s rich sport history, many athletes, coaches and builders have blazed memorable trails.

Nancy Garapick did it on the Olympic podium. Al MacInnis did it while patrolling the blue lines of National Hockey League arenas across North America. Colleen Jones and Sidney Crosby continue to do it in curling and hockey respectively.

So does Don Koharski, a Dartmouth native who has been blazing his own incredible trail for three decades.

Flash back to the year 1975. This was a time when professional hockey’s spotlight rarely shone east of Montreal. But Koharksi, just nineteen years old, caught a break and landed a job as a linesman in the now-defunct World Hockey Association. Within two years, he was performing the same duties full time in the NHL. Three years later he became a full-time NHL referee.

Fast forward to 2007, and the name Don Koharski is now iconic and symbolic for officiating excellence in the NHL. Since 1980, Koharski has worked more than 1,500 NHL regular season games, 235 playoff games, 11 Stanley Cup finals, two Canada Cups and two NHL All Star Games.

A first ballot cinch to one day be enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, “Koho”, as his friends call him, has never forgotten his roots. He returns every summer and runs officiating clinics for young Nova Scotians who perhaps hope to blaze a trail similar to his.

Koharski has also proven himself to be an on-ice leader during the post-lockout era, when new rules were introduced in an attempt to make the NHL product more exciting and attractive. For new rules to be successfully implemented, NHL officials need to be at their best, committed to excellence at all times. In this area especially, Koharski’s stewardship has been a crucial and perhaps overlooked ingredient that has helped the league enjoy immeasurable growth across the continent in recent years.

I had the pleasure and honour to call Don Koharski on the telephone last spring to inform him of his upcoming induction into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. As a young-at-heart sports fan, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to place such a call. But as a proud Nova Scotian, I was moved by the humility and emotion displayed by this great man.

In his words, he was “humbled and honoured and trying hard not to get all teary-eyed.”

To distill it into simple terms, it was a hall of fame reaction by a trail blazer who loves Nova Scotia, loves the game of hockey and has worked for thirty years to earn this enshrinement.

Annual Program Courtesy of Paul Hollingsworth