FREEPORT

When Dean Gilbert began refereeing hockey while attending the University of Southern Maine, it was a part-time job to help make ends meet.

What Gilbert didn’t realize, that 20 years later, he’d still be on the ice.

After 20 years of refereeing and officiating NCAA hockey games, the Freeport resident has decided to hang up his skates and whistle, officiating his last NCAA game at the University of Southern Maine on Dec. 10.

“I want to spend more time with my family. That’s the primary reason for me stepping away from the NCAA level,” said Gilbert.

A graduate and hockey player from Waterville High School, Gilbert started refereeing while living in the dorms at USM. It was good money for a young college student, doing something he loved.

“I started doing some club games and I had USM on my schedule,” said Gilbert. “On the day I was to work a game at the school, the athletic director must have been looking at his paperwork for issuing game checks and saw my address was a dorm on campus. He called me and I was taken off any USM games from that point until I was a couple of years removed.”

Gilbert worked his way up the ranks, getting certified in both the ECAC and Hockey East conferences. In 2002, he worked as a linesman in the Division III National Championship game at Middlebury College in Vermont. The following year he refereed the women’s Division III final and in 2009 was an official in the Division I Women’s Frozen Four in Boston.

“I started working playoffs in 2001 and kept working up the ladder,” said Gilbert.

Along with his college games, Gilbert was an official all eight years the Lewiston Maniacs were in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

“I saw a lot of good hockey in that league, as well as some really good players in Hockey East,” said Gilbert. “I did games with Sidney Crosby, David Krejci, Brad Marchand from the ‘Q’ and Jimmy Howard from UMaine to name a few.”

Five years ago, Gilbert cut back on his schedule, “retiring” from D-I, keeping it closer to home with just DIII games.

“Ten years of the Hockey East was a lot,” said Gilbert. “It was very time consuming and kept me away from my family with three little kids at home. It could be I left Friday morning at 7 a.m. and return to Maine on Sunday just to do another game in the afternoon. I would easily do 100 games a season.”

Gilbert recognizes that to be a full time ref, it takes quite a commitment, a commitment Gilbert doesn’t feel is best for his situation at this point in his life.

By sticking to just D-III games, Gilbert has not had to leave Maine the past five years. Games at Bowdoin, Colby, Bates and USM kept the 41-year old busy.

“It keeps me a lot closer to home,” said Gilbert. “My wife Jaime does a wonderful job with our three kids while I’m out doing games.”

Watching kids grow

Gilbert is looking forward to spending time with his family. His kids, Jack (12), Alex (10), and Maddy (6) are involved in skiing and Gilbert wants to be around them.

“We recently got a condo at Sugarloaf and we spend a lot of time up there,” said Gilbert. “The kids are involved with race teams and ski school. There just isn’t enough time to do both. I’m so excited to be able to have all five of us ski together, all being able to go down the same trail at the same time.”

It hasn’t been all fun and games for Gilbert. Skating around the rink with both teams, a flying puck, or even skate can become hazardous to a ref ’s health.

“I’ve had a couple of injuries. I’ve taken a puck to the face and got eight stitches. I once needed stitches on my hand,” said a smiling Gilbert. “During a fight, a skate came up and slit my finger, I had to go into the locker room and get three stitches. It happened at the end of the game, so I missed the ending.”

He also has some other memories, including a brawl or two out on the ice.

“The year before I worked the National Championships, I was working an ECAC quarterfinal game between Massachusetts College of the Liberal Arts at New England College,” said Gilbert. “At the end of the first period, we had a bench clearing brawl, full out donnybrook. There were 40 players and probably 10 coaches out on the ice.

“The way we figured out who to penalize was we picked up their jerseys off the ice because they weren’t wearing any as the fighting got that out of control.”

However, Gilbert feels that he can’t completely walk away.

“I plan to do some prep games, maybe some club games as well,” said Gilbert. “I’ll primarily work the fall games as well,” said Gilbert. “I’ll primarily work the fall season until winter hits, I’ll work something like 20 games a season.”

He will also miss his fellow comrades, refs that he worked, traveled and dined with over the years.

“What I’ll miss the most is the camaraderie amongst us refs,” said Gilbert. “We could travel in a car for three or four hours on a trip. It wasn’t uncommon to have a 12-hour day for a two-hour game, so we got to know each other pretty well. We’d go out and grab a bite to eat afterwards, it was a good time.”

For now, Gilbert is welcoming the snow, allowing him some mountain time with his family. He works in Freeport at Mortgage Network as the branch manager and will continue coaching his kids in youth sports while also attending Pearl Jam concerts in his free time.