Former Hockey East coordinator of men’s officials Dan Schachte passed away today, September 6, surrounded by his family at the age of 64.
He is survived by his wife Kim and children Danny, Ian, Lauren and Maddy.
Schachte served in his role for Hockey East from 2012 to 2020.
“He was a master of his schedule,” former Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna told USCHO.com. “He had a network that expanded where our officials came from. [Former coordinator of officials] Brendan Sheehy had expanded the pools outside of Massachusetts and then Dan, with his contacts from the USHL, USA Hockey and the NHL, it was not unusual to have [Jamie Koharski] coming up from Florida and Tommy George from Maryland. Even swapping officials on a given weekend with the WCHA.
“He did a lot of things that continued a long line of professionalizing the process.”
Schachte enjoyed an illustrious 30-year career as an NHL linesman, retiring in 2012. He worked 2,009 regular-season games in the NHL dating back to 1982, which ranked fifth all-time and was first all-time among American-born NHL officials at the time of his retirement. He was the first American and fifth official ever to surpass 2,000 games worked. He lined 221 Stanley Cup playoff games, which ranked eighth all-time among NHL linesmen.
He worked five Stanley Cup Finals (1997, ‘98, ‘00, ‘01, ‘02) including Game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Final. He was one of a select group chosen as linesmen for the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, completing his duties on the lines of the bronze medal game. His resume also included stints in the 1991 Canada Cup and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
He was inducted into the Madison (Wis.) Sports Hall of Fame in June 2017.
“Dan contributed a lot to college hockey,” said Frank Cole, the NCAA’s director of officiating. “He was always working hard for the betterment of the game.”
Schachte also served on the NHLOA Discipline Committee from 2002 to 2010, as well as the NHLOA Executive Board (1991-1992) and the NHL Injury Analysis Panel in 2002. He served as an officiating supervisor for USA Hockey since 2011, mentoring many of the top young officials in the United States with instruction and training at camps around the country.
Schachte was a WCHA and USHL referee for two years (1980-82) and co-founded the Wisconsin Elite Hockey League in 2006.
He studied mechanical engineering at Wisconsin.
