Guest Author: A Very Zebra Thanksgiving

On rare occasion, we've featured a guest author here on MayorsManor.  Today, we present a special Thanksgiving day piece by Scott Coffman. For the last few years he's been part of The Fourth Period Radio show and in between booking guests, he contributes articles to their magazine as well.

With the holidays right around the corner and today being (American) Thanksgiving, it’s time to give credit to those who have one of the hardest jobs in the NHL. No, it’s not Sidney Crosby’s concussion specialists, but the referees and linesman that keep control of every game and who are some of the most under-appreciated people in all of hockey.

We have to give thanks to referee Kelly Sutherland. His first NHL game was actually in Los Angeles on December 19, 2000. Since then, he's become one of the league’s top officials, as evidenced by being only one of three guys selected to officiate the last two Stanley Cup Finals - along with Dan O’Halloran and Stephen Walkom. Sutherland gained some notoriety last year during his appearances in HBO’s 24/7 Penguins vs Capitals series. In this video clip (warning, NSFW language), he's shown taking the time to explain a call to Penguins’ defenseman Brooks Orpik. While not every player may agree with the decisions made on the ice, strengthening communication goes a long way towards mutual understanding and developing a good player-referee relationship. It's also been announced that Sutherland will be wearing a microphone for tomorrow's nationally televised 'Thanksgiving Showdown' between Detroit and Boston.