Fred Page

Frederick Page (September 29, 1915 – December 23, 1997) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator and ice hockey referee.

He originated from Port Arthur, Ontario, where he played junior ice hockey, refereed locally and later at the Memorial Cup and Allan Cup competitions.

Page was born on September 29, 1915, in Port Arthur, Ontario.

He grew up playing minor ice hockey in Port Arthur, then played junior ice hockey for the 1934–35 season.

He won the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association (TBAHA) championship with the Port Arthur Juniors that season.

His finished his playing career in the 1938–39 season with the Nipigon Intermediates.

From 1940 to 1948, Page was an ice hockey referee and a coach in Fort William Minor hockey.

He was promoted to officiating for the TBAHA from 1948 to 1954.

Page became involved as an executive with the Fort William Minor Hockey Association in 1948, and was elected to be the organization's president in 1951.

He refereed the first game played at the Fort William Gardens when it opened on March 6, 1951.

He was recognized for his refereeing abilities, and was selected to officiate in playoffs for the Memorial Cup and the Allan Cup.

During game three of the 1953 Memorial Cup Western Canada final, Leo Konyk scored an overtime game-winning goal for the St. Boniface Canadiens, then grabbed Page who was refereeing, and began dancing with him at center ice.

After the incident, Page implied that he did not like dancing.

He later served on the TBAHA executive committee starting in 1954, and was its president from 1959 to 1964.

He was a league executive in Fort William, then served as president of the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association from 1958 to 1962.

He later officiated in the 1958 Memorial Cup playoffs, and at 1958 Allan Cup tournament.

He arranged to have exhibition games at the Fort William Gardens with teams from the Soviet Union and Japan during the 1959–60 season.

He also urged for residents in Port Arthur To push for a replacement to the lost Port Arthur Arena.

During Fort William's general meeting in 1960, he announced the hosting duties for the 1961 Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) general meeting.

Page also participated on the CAHA committee in his role as the TBAHA president.

He was the CAHA executive who oversaw the Western half of the 1960 Memorial Cup playoffs.

He ordered the final match of a series to be stopped due to on-ice violence, and awarded the series to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

At the 1961 general meeting of the CAHA, Page made a motion to provide greater compensation for the visiting team in senior ice hockey playoffs to cover travel expenses.

At the same meeting, he opposed a motion which gave the CAHA president or his representative the power to choose either the two-referee-system without linesmen, or the one-referee-two-linesmen system for CAHA playoffs.

Page preferred having one referee and two linesmen.

In the winter of 1961–62, he co-chaired the Port Arthur Bearcats European exhibition game tour and travelled with the team.

He was elected second vice president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) in 1962, and rose up the ranks to be its president from 1966 to 1968.

Page wanted the CAHA to gain more control over its affairs, and become less dependent on the National Hockey League (NHL).

Under his leadership, the NHL ended direct sponsorship of junior hockey teams.

The Bearcats visited Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Sweden, and won the 1962 Ahearne Cup.

Page was elected the second vice-president of the CAHA on May 25, 1962, and served in the role under president Art Potter until 1964.

Page chaired the Western Canada junior hockey committee that examined the reduced calibre of play in the Memorial Cup, brought on by rapid expansion which included 17 new teams in the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association (BCAHA) within two years.

In December 1962, he negotiated a new draft agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL) to allow the drafting of four 17-year-olds, with a payment of $2,000 to the junior club.

He also acted as a chaperone for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team on tour in Canada in December 1962.

Page served as vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation from 1966 to 1972, where he helped organize the Ice Hockey World Championships, and served as a director of ice hockey at the Olympic Games.

He was instrumental in negotiating the revised agreement for the NHL Amateur Draft in 1967, and later served as co-chairman of the resulting joint player development committee.

He assisted in negotiating international hockey participation on behalf of Canada, and was one of the four signatories of the agreement to play the 1972 Summit Series between the Canadian and the Soviet Union national teams.

He later became a founding member of the Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League and the Canadian Junior A Hockey League, and presided over the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.

He was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of Fame, the BC Hockey Hall of Fame, and the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

He received the Canadian Centennial Medal, and was made the namesake of the Fred Page Cup.