Former NHL referee shares an amazing story about Mario Lemieux

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S. Harper
May 24, 2022 (11:11)

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Mario Lemieux was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Lemieux played 17-seasons, all for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Over the course of his career he scored 1723 points in 915 games. Lemieux also won 2 Stanley Cups over the course of his career. Unfortunately a battle with cancer stole multiple seasons from his career.

Lemieux was also known as an amazing person on the ice, but also off of it. Lemieux even ended his retirement to return to play with and mentor, Sidney Crosby.

Long-time NHL Referee, Don Van Massenhoven shared the following story with Sportsnet about the amazing person Mario was.

Lemieux had just returned from a three-year-long retirement, and in his second game back, he scored. At least that is what he and everybody else thought. But I blew the whistle too quickly. I thought the goalie had it covered, but he didn't. The puck squirted free, and Pittsburgh put it in the net.

The fans went crazy.

They started throwing stuff on the ice and that is when Lemieux showed what a great guy he is.

Mario, the gentleman he was � as fans are yelling and throwing stuff on the ice � he comes over and asks me what happened. I said, �I screwed up. I blew the whistle too quick.' He said, �Well, I'll stand here beside you until they stop throwing stuff.' And they did. I couldn't believe it.

It's gestures like this that allow players like Lemieux to get the respect they needed from officials to be effective on the ice. That's probably why Mario was able to score 701 powerplay points over the span of his career.