- Matt Pavelich, the first linesman elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, has died at 92
- He worked 19 straight Stanley Cup Finals from 1961 to 1979
- Read below for his final game, the puck Ken Dryden wanted, and his 38 years with the NHL
Matt Pavelich has died at the age of 92.
Pavelich, the first linesman ever elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, passed away Friday. His son shared the news on social media and said his father was “surrounded by the people who loved him” at the end.
He was enshrined in 1987, the year the Hall expanded its officials category to include linesmen. Pavelich spent 23 seasons in the NHL, working 1,727 regular-season games as a linesman and 14 more as a referee, plus 245 playoff games.
The Stanley Cup Final is where he really stood out. Pavelich worked the 1957 and 1958 Finals, then 19 in a row from 1961 through 1979. That adds up to 56 Cup Final games.
His last NHL game came on May 21, 1979. It was Game 5 of the Final, a 4-1 Canadiens win over the Rangers that gave Montreal its fourth straight Cup. Ken Dryden was playing his final game too.
A loose puck was rolling toward Dryden’s glove as the celebration started, and both men wanted it. Dryden handed it over, with the understanding that whoever outlived the other would keep it. Dryden died in September 2025, so the puck stayed with Pavelich.
Pavelich talked about it at the Hall’s red carpet event in 2018, when he was 84.
“Yes, I still have that puck, and I just moved it in the house from where it was,” he said. “I hid it because my wife throws things out all the time.”
The route to the NHL started early. He was refereeing minor hockey at 14 and was the referee-in-chief of the Northern Michigan Intermediate League by 20. His work in the AHL in 1955-56 got him promoted, and he made his NHL debut on Oct. 11, 1956. His older brother Marty was already skating for the Red Wings, which made them the first brother pair in the league as a player and an official.
His first night in Detroit was a rough one. Pavelich was the junior official on the ice, so he got stuck clearing an octopus off the Olympia ice while his partners watched. Years later, he got knocked out cold stepping into a Lou Fontinato haymaker during a fight with Earl Ingarfield.
After he stopped working games, Pavelich spent eight more years as a Supervisor of Officials. His time with the league ended after the 1993-94 season, 38 years after it began.
We at Gino Hard send our condolences to Pavelich’s family, friends, and everyone who worked alongside him.
