BUTLER TWP — A former hockey player, Mike Trego was a bigger hockey fan.

And he wanted to stay in the game.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be as a player,” said Trego, 53, who grew up in Philadelphia and went on to play club hockey at Slippery Rock University. “I mean, I was OK, but it wasn’t going to take me anywhere.”

So he turned to officiating — at age 17.

“I’ve always enjoyed being on the ice,” Trego said of officiating. “I decided to try it and I really liked doing it. It just took off from there.”

Trego went through the certification and training necessary to become an on-ice official. He works high school, college, amateur and junior hockey games. A former Butler Eagle reporter who has been a juvenile probation officer for approximately 20 years, Trego has 36 years in officiating hockey.

Butler resident Mike Trego recently officiated his 5,000th hockey game. Submitted Photo.

He worked his 5,000th career game — a U-16 Armstrong amateur game — Saturday at the Belmont Complex in Kittanning.

“I don’t know how many guys get to that point,” Trego said of working 5,000 games. “I hope a lot of them. That means people are staying with it.”

A longtime Butler resident, he works as many as seven to 10 games in an average week.

“Facilities are laying down additional sheets of ice and hockey continues to grow in this area,” Trego said. “There’s definitely a shortage of officials. I’ve done games all over the place.

“When I was younger, in my 30’s, I traveled to New England and up to Canada to work games. I don’t travel like that anymore, but officiating has taken me to places I otherwise would never have seen.”

Just like players, hockey officials are prone to injuries. Trego has suffered a sprained knee and rib injuries while working games.

“I’ve been hit by pucks, hit by players,” he said. “You can’t always get out of the way.”

He’s worked college games at Pitt, Duquesne, Indiana (Pa.), California (Pa.) and Saint Vincent College in recent years. Some of the officials he’s worked with over the years have gone on to officiate in the National Hockey League.

Trego has had a taste of that himself.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins often practicing at the UPMC Lemieux Complex in Cranberry Township, Trego has taken part in officiating some of the team’s intra-squad games during practices.

“They simulate real games,” he said. “Being able to drop the puck for a face-off while standing next to Sidney Crosby is pretty cool.”

He helps to train and certify new officials, some of them starting out as young as 11 or 12 years old.

“It’s good exercise and a great way to stay in shape,” he said of working games. “Still, it is a thankless job sometimes. The abuse you take from people at the games ... I can see why a lot of people get out of it after a short while.”

But he’s not one of them.

“I plan to retire in the next year or so and that will give me more time (to officiate hockey),” Trego said. “I hope to get a few more years in before I’m done. I just wish people would curb the verbal abuse.

“It’s there with officials in all sports and it shouldn’t be.”