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N.H.L.'s last 'sneaker referee' simply wants to fit in

Above: Sneaker Ref Billy O'Sullivan charges up the ice to follow the play between the Sharks and the Blues.

St. Louis--Billy O'Sullivan doesn't like to stand out. In fact, the 16-year N.H.L. veteran referee usually goes out of his way to blend in with the crowd. A quiet father of three and a native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, his head-down and say-nothing-controversial approach has served him well in the planet's best ice hockey league. Yet, fans and players would never know this--his disdain for standing out--by watching O'Sullivan perform his job.

Attempting to soothe his pre-playoff game nerves he jokes around with the two other officials in the comfortable referees' room in the bowels of the Scottrade Center before finishing a semi-green banana. The game, only thirty or so minutes away, will be his 300th post-season appearance and the league plans to recognize the accomplishment with a brief JumboTron video highlight reel (for a ref?). He hates to stand out.

He calmly tosses the banana peel into the waste basket. He is ready. When the three men stand--all similar in height in shoes--and exit the mahogany-covered room to make their way to the ice for the matchup between the Sharks and Blues, O'Sullivan, much to his chagrin, noticeably stands out. He is all the sudden the shortest of the three ... by far.

You see, O'Sullivan is the last of the "Sneaker Refs" from the late 1990s. He has earned a nickname from his peers: Last of the Mo-sneakens. During the latter part of that decade, N.H.L. officials, many seeking to reduce the risks of retirement aches and pains, pushed comfort over quality and nearly 70 percent of the referee workforce dropped skates for sneakers.

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