Bob Hayden is the former Referee

Official (ice hockey)

In ice hockey, an official is a person who has some responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. There are two categories of officials, on-ice officials, who are the referees and linesmen that enforce the rules during game play, and off-ice officials, who have an...

 In Chief of USA Hockey

USA Hockey

USA Hockey is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for amateur ice hockey in the United States and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The organization is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has...

. He served as the head of the National Ice Hockey Officials Association prior to that. He provided an annual comparison of ice hockey rules in the NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

, National Federation, and USA Hockey. His positions on ice hockey rules were regularly available on USA Hockey's "Ask an Official Page" http://www.usahockey.com/usa_hockey/officials/officials/home_officials/. He is generally regarded as being against "old time hockey", that is, he is in favor of more restrictive rules that protect players and help to eliminate fighting, checking from behind, any hits to the head, and zero tolerance to verbal abuse of officials.