Danny McCourt
Algonquin/Iroquois
Induction Category:
Year Inducted
Official
2023
Danny McCourt worked as a National Hockey League Official for 25 years, just under 1,700 games from 1979 to 2004. From 2005 to 2022, he held the position as an NHL Officiating Manager in the Scouting & Development Department. From 2022 to current –he serves as a Consultant to the Senior Vice President & Director of Officiating for the NHL Stephen Walkom.
Danny was hired by the NHL after working 1-1/2 years as an amateur Official living in Falconbridge, Ontario and one year in the International Hockey League, based in the Detroit area. When the WHA folded, the NHL took in four teams and needed 16 more officials. Six came from the WHA and he was one of the other 10 hired.
His junior hockey playing career ended with winning an SOJHL championship with the Windsor Spitfires. Never being drafted to play in the NHL and knowing nothing about playing hockey in Europe, he changed his focus to officiating. Coaching was an option, if officiating didn’t get him to “the show” but he thought he could pursue that when he was older.
When asked about his most memorable moment in the NHL, without hesitation he says his first regular season face-off in Edmonton versus Detroit and the two centres’ were his brother Dale, fellow 2023 NAIAHF inductee, and Wayne Gretzky. Dale won the face off.