Former NHL referee and Regina, Saskatchewan native Brad Watson's career spanned two decades from 1993 to 2013.
"It's funny as officials you remember your bad calls way more than you remember your good. I remember, it's kind of a crazy thing, being in Anaheim and Detroit's playing there. There's a minute and nine seconds left. Marian Hossa scored, the puck scooted through the goalie, I didn't see it and I've blown it," Watson explained to the SportsCage.
"I had to disallow the goal. They lost 2-1 and I thought it was the end of the world for me. But you have to suck it up, go back out there and do your best. We're not going to be perfect, but it's a really interesting job, it's really gratifying."
During Watson's time in the NHL, he refereed over 1,393 regular-season games, 214 playoff games and eight Stanley Cup Finals. When Watson retired in 2019, the Ted Knight Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame inducted him.
"I remember working the 2006 Stanley Cup Final game seven when Edmonton lost to Carolina. I remember leaving the stadium at Raleigh, it's probably an hour after the game, I walked out into the Zamboni entrance where our dressing room was located and I saw Ryan Smyth," Watson recalled.
"I know how long Ryan had played, how hard he had played in his career and he was crying. You think it's all glory, but you see how this game rips people's hearts out at times with emotion. You have to, as an official, understand what's at stake. When you make some of these decisions and how it can really affect people."
When it comes to instant replays in hockey, Watson has two different opinions on the matter.
"That's where it's actually gotten better in the player safety side of it. When you see a player get a head shot and you're not sure, you don't want to guess. But you know what, let's go look at it and make a better call. What it does is it settles the team that's mad because of the hit. If you come back with a penalty or no penalty, they're not both going to be happy, but at least it settles the game down. The one team that we missed the hit on they are going to put a seed in your head all the time for the rest of the game, there might be 40 minutes left and that's mentally grinding. We all look at it, we come back, and we go: 'This is what we saw. This is the best call, whether it's a penalty or not.' Then it resets the game," Watson explained.
"I am now coaching officials; we have a lot of young guys who haven't experienced a lot of that stuff when it used to be really rough. It resets them. I think replays is good for the game. I'm not a big fan of offside replay, but it is what it is."
