Brad Kovachik retires after 1,974 NHL games and five Stanley Cups

The Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators 6-3 this week, but when the final buzzer sounded on March 31, players from both teams came together to congratulate Brad Kovachik.

It was Kovachik’s last game.

Kovachik, a Fort Erie resident who spent 30 years as an NHL linesman, retired this week after a career that included 1,974 regular season games, five Stanley Cup finals and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. His family and close friends were in the building in Florida to watch it end.

Wayne Gates, the NDP MPP for Niagara Falls, rose in the Ontario legislature on Thursday to mark the occasion, honouring Kovachik by name on the floor of Queen’s Park.

“If you played hockey in Niagara at any point, you’d probably know Brad,” said Gates. “He has been a pillar to families and young players in Fort Erie for many years.”

Kovachik grew up in Woodstock, in southwestern Ontario, and began officiating at 12 years old, earning $4 a game, enough for a few packs of hockey cards. He moved into the OHL as a linesman at 21, worked three seasons there, and was invited to an NHL officiating camp in the summer of 1996. By that fall, he was splitting games between the AHL and the NHL.

His first regular season NHL game was October 10, 1996, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, with the Flyers hosting the Los Angeles Kings. Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were still active players.

Kovachik worked two Stanley Cup finals before 2019, the 2014 series between the Kings and the New York Rangers, and the 2017 series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators. He added three more Cup assignments over the final stretch of his career.

Back in Fort Erie, he coached youth hockey and served on the local minor hockey board throughout his NHL career.

“Fort Erie and Niagara are proud and privileged to have a community member like Brad help live and grow the game we all love,” Gates said in the legislature.

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