When jumping on the ice this afternoon in Dallas to work the Nashville Predators and Stars game, Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia native Gord Dwyer will be reaching the 1,000 NHL Regular Season Game milestone. Joining him on the ice for this special assignment today will be fellow referee Jon McIsaac while linesmen Darren Gibbs and David Brisebois will be completing the officiating crew. Dwyer who has been calling Dallas home for over a decade now, will be honored before the game alongside his wife Alexis and their two children.
 
Gord Dwyer bio:
 
Born in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Dwyer grew up playing hockey in the Halifax/Sackville minor hockey program. He would go on and play until his junior years, playing for the Halifax Junior A team before retiring at the age of 20. His officiating journey started a few years earlier at the age of 14 while he was still playing in the Minor Hockey League (MHL). He spent his first few years working all levels of hockey in the Sackville Minor Hockey System before reaching the elite levels once his playing days were over where he officiated some Junior and University games. A couple of years later, Dwyer was hired by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) to work as a linesman, while still working the lower levels as a referee. The Saint Mary’s University graduate who studied psychology and criminology made the transition from being a linesman to wearing the orange arm bands in the QMJHL the very next season. His passion for the game and his determination to make it to the NHL as a referee had him packing his bags in the summer of 2001 moving to San Antonio, Texas to work the Central Hockey League (CHL) full-time as a referee. Dwyer spent two seasons in the CHL reaching the finals each season. He was offered a Minor Leagues referee contract by the National Hockey League in the summer of 2003. He was promoted to a full-time NHL referee status three seasons later in the summer of 2006 at the age of 29.
 
Gord worked his first NHL Regular Season Game back on November 19th, 2005 in Edmonton when the Chicago Blackhawks where in town to play the Oilers. The man wearing jersey number 19 and who just worked his first Stanley Cup Finals last spring made his NHL Playoffs debut on April 16th, 2014 in Tampa Bay (MTL vs TB). He was also part of the officiating team in 2016 that worked the World Cup of Hockey held in Toronto. Dwyer has also skated in three outdoor games so far (2015 Stadium Series – Santa Clara CA (SJ vs LA), 2016 Heritage Classic – Winnipeg MB (EDM vs WPG) & 2018 Winter Classic – New York NY (BUF Vs NYR)). 
 
The NHLOA would like to congratulate referee Gord Dwyer for reaching the 1,000 NHL Regular Season Games milestone.