Laurie Power was one of those athletes of the 1940s who starred in several sports, playing everything available to him and loving the entire sports milieu. An accomplished aquatic athlete, he was an outstanding rower, in the best tradition of his Herring Cove background. He was a winner of the prestigious Halifax Harbour singles, a crew member in a number of four-man category championship teams, and as well served as an instructor for young rowers. But it was in hockey that Laurie Power’s accomplishments shone brightest. He made the transition from player to official in the early 1950s, a graduate of the famous Saint Mary’s Winter Gardens hockey program. He enjoyed a fine playing career as a player in an innovative development program authored by the late Jimmy McDonald and his partner Gerald Reardon Sr. But he moved to officiating, breaking in as a novice official in various metro minor hockey associations. A strong skater, with an equally strong personality, his basic instincts as on on-ice official quickly brought him to the attention of Maritime officials eager to develop home-grown talent.

Following World War II, the two Maritime major senior leagues, Cape Breton and Big Four, began importing on-ice officials as well as most of their players. Some of those officials include former NHL referee George Mattinson of Montreal, Maurice (Moe) Walsh of Fort William, Ont., Frank Elliott of St. Catherine’s and Charlie Good of Toronto. But there had been little or no development of young Maritimers to replace an aging crew that consisted mainly of Pete Mill of Amherst, Clary Potts of New Glasgow, Hughie Gillis and Russ Power of Halifax and others who came late and left early.

By the early 1950s, Laurie Power had emerged as a refreshing new presence on Maritime rinks, a man who developed a reputation of “being tough, but always in charge,” fair and equitable in his judgments and strong enough to endure 90-game schedules and playoffs in the Maritime Major Hockey League, the best of its calibre in Canada, with teams in Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, Charlottetown, Glace Bay and Sydney. Power was the official most requested by team managers and coaches, the man chosen to referee the most crucial games and the games involving the most intense rivalries. It was known the game would be handled well and fairly by a man with a complete knowledge of the rule book and the good judgment to let the players decide the game. Power’s work drew the attention of NHL referee-in-chief Carl Voss who sponsored his protege at an official’s school in Winnipeg and influenced some professional experience in the American Hockey League. But by the late 1950s, Laurie had developed serious knee problems that curtailed his career and from that point, he gave of himself as an instructor and chairman of a referee’s association in the Maritimes. With his impeccable reputation as an on-ice official, Laurie Power earned the respect of players, coaches and fans, a tough task for any sport official.

Bio Courtesy of Pat Connolly