Jerry Pateman

Jerry was born in The Hague, Netherlands in 1958 and moved to Chatham with his parents in 1959. He played minor hockey in Chatham from novice to midget, house league and travel. Along the way, he became more interested in officiating than in playing. He went on to have a 12 year career as a National Hockey League linesman.

• 1972 – began refereeing minor hockey games for the Chatham Minor Hockey Association house league games as a volunteer and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association travel teams – to improve his skills, he went to “Officials” school run by longtime NHL referee, Bruce Hood
• 1974 – began officiating for the Ontario Hockey Association which included all levels of junior hockey – began with local junior B and C games and worked his way up to Major Jr. A – 1982 – refereed in the Memorial Cup Canadian Championship tournament including the championship game
• 1976 – joined the International Hockey League as a linesman
• 1979 to 1982 – was a trainee referee for the National Hockey League doing games in the American, International, and Central Hockey Leagues
• 1982 to 1994 – was brought up to the NHL as a linesman where he remained for twelve years – officiated in 650 regular season NHL games, 24 playoff games and the 1990-91 all-star game in Chicago – after leaving the NHL, moved to Windsor, took a full time job at Chrysler and continued to referee in the minor leagues
• 1995 to 2001, Jerry refereed in the International Hockey League and, until 2004, in the Colonial League which became the United League with teams in Illinois, Michigan, New York, and North Carolina. – 1998 – was chosen to referee the United Hockey League all-stars against the Canadian Olympic team in Port Huron, Michigan
• 2004 – Jerry was asked to referee the United Hockey League all-star game in Fort Wayne, Indiana

From 2001 to the present, Jerry has been Supervisor of Officials for the East Coast Hockey League and from 2010 to the present, he has been Supervisor of Officials for USA Hockey which oversees all amateur hockey in America. His job is to go to games to mentor and critique officials. The results of his evaluations determine playoff assignments and an official’s advancement to higher levels. Nearly a dozen of the officials that he has worked with are now in the NHL or the American Hockey League.

In 2002, the Chatham Minor Hockey Association honoured Jerry’s career by placing a black and white striped banner with his name and the NHL logo in the Thames Campus Arena.

Jerry currently lives in Windsor with his wife, Laurie. They are fortunate to have one daughter, one son and three grandchildren. He works at Chrysler Canada in Windsor.