Barrie Examiner Article – Bill McKeen
Bill McKeen took up the game of hockey at 20 years of age and played for 17 years. At 31 years of age, he started coaching while still playing the game. After he moved to Barrie from London in 1987, McKeen became involved with refereeing the game of hockey. Shortly after this, he began timekeeping in Oro for the Oro midget games. This evolved in to McKeen performing timekeeping duties in Barrie. for the past 9 years, he has been doing timekeeping exclusively for the Barrie “AAA” squads. By the end of January 2012, McKeen had already done 157 “AAA” games during the 2011/2012 season. McKeen has done 2 international games, approximately a dozen games for the Barrie Colts of the OHL, and even done an exhibition game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders. Bill takes his position as timekeeper very seriously. He is normally at his place in the arena 90 minutes before game time, setting up his equipment, testing the time clock and picking up the key for the referee’s room. Despite having performed his timekeeping duties at a higher level, McKeen’s preference is to stick to timekeeping games for the younger ages. When players end up in the penalty box, he tends to joke with these players, trying to get them smiling before they leave the box. McKeen feels this is part of his duty as timekeeper, trying to keep the players happy and in the game.
