John D'Amico (ice hockey)

A native of Toronto, D'Amico graduated from De La Salle College.^{[citation needed]}

D'Amico's NHL career began as a referee on October 12, 1964, when he was 27 years old. He refereed only 19 games before becoming a linesman.

At the time of his retirement after the 1987 season, D'Amico was the last on-ice official active during the Original Six era. D'Amico's career included 1,689 regular season games, seven All-Star games, including the 1979 Challenge Cup and Rendez-vous '87, and 247 Stanley Cup playoff games, including 52 Stanley Cup Finals.^[1] His last one was in 1987. He also worked the Canada Cup. In 1988, D'Amico was watching a Leafs game on TV at home when a linesman had to leave a game because of an injury. In response, D'Amico arrived at Maple Leaf Gardens and finished the game, marking his final on-ice performance as an NHL linesman.

After retirement, he became a supervisor of officials for the NHL until his death in 2005. D'Amico was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.^[2]

His health problems started in September 2002 when he suffered a heart attack and underwent bypass surgery. Tests following surgery indicated blood abnormalities and a diagnosis of aplastic anemia, which resulted in gallstone problems.^[3]

Just before his death, D'Amico made news headlines across Canada when he spoke out about the poor quality of the country's health care system.^{[citation needed]}

D'Amico and his wife, Dorothy, had three sons and one daughter.^{[citation needed]}

• List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame
• List of NHL on-ice officials