Tuesday night’s clash between the Worcester Sharks and the Manitoba Moose at the MTS Centre was a unique home coming for American Hockey League off-ice official Gerald Andrews. It was his first game back on the job after what he calls the thrill of a lifetime working as an off-ice official for the men’s gold-medal game at the Olympics.
Andrews has worked for the AHL part-time for four years after being recommended by Wade Flaherty, a former Moose goaltender who lived with Andrews while playing for the team. At work, Andrews keeps stats on things like goals, assists, penalty minutes and plus-minus. He says, he saw the opportunity to work on one of the sport’s biggest stages and went for it.
“It sounded like a great opportunity so I started the process of a lot of interviews a couple of years ago and was lucky enough to get chosen,” he says.
“It was an incredible thrill, obviously, for a regular guy like me to get to basically help referee Olympic hockey. You just kind are shocked,” added Andrews who kept stats on face-offs during the Olympics in both men’s and women’s games.
Mid-way through the festivities, Andrews was told he had been chosen to work the final. He says that while it now ranks as a great memory, he was so caught up in his job that he was unable to be a true fan at the time.
“It was something that was pretty spectacular, obviously, but as you’re watching you have to be doing your job,” he says.
“Even when the winning goal was scored it was like it was just another goal. You had to do your job and record everything properly,” he adds before describing how he was sure to take tons of pictures of the celebrations afterwards.
Scott Brown, director of corporate communications & hockey operations for the Moose says the organization is thrilled to have guys like Andrews on their team.
“To know we have people who work that hard and are that good at their jobs, it’s something we are happy to brag about,” he says.
“Not a lot of people realize the work that goes on and the pressure these guys face to get stats out that people take for granted every day,” he adds.
Moose fans haven’t been able to take much for granted in this up and down season but Andrews was able to record a 3-1 win for the home team in this game, the second victory in a row for the inconsistent Moose.
Andrews story drew little coverage in major local media outlets. He says he isn’t surprised and doesn’t really care, happy to get back to his normal life.
“I don’t want to be famous or anything. As long as I know and my family knows and we can share these special memories than I don’t need anyone to know my name,” he says.
While this may be true, it’s clear that Andrews will never forget his time in Vancouver.
“It doesn’t get bigger than that. I mean, I was a part of history,” he said.
keith
No comments:
Post a Comment