An emblematic figure in Swiss hockey, Didier Massy is one of the rare former professional players who have become referees. The Valaisan trained at HC Sierre and passed through HC Lugano looks at his two careers for RTSsport – where he is also a consultant.
After having been a defender at the highest national and international level in the 80s and 90s, after having coached “his” HC Sierre in 1999/00, Didier Massy became a referee in 2007. The 61-year-old Valaisan, still on the whistle in the Swiss League, has been roaming the country’s arenas for no less than 55 seasons (!). According to him, the 2024/25 vintage could however “certainly” to be his last at the professional level.
Jacques Lemaire? A very demanding man, but available
The current head of the TCS technical centers in Valais, born a stone’s throw from Graben, obviously has tons of anecdotes. One of his first mentors was none other than Jacques Lemaire, then player-coach of HC Sierre in the early 1980s.A very demanding man, but available“, remembers Massy.
Then, during the promotion of the Valais club to the LNA in 1985, another former superstar of the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL, Jacques Plante, occupied the position of assistant coach in the city of the sun. It’s hard to dream of better models to launch a career!
Massy even goes so far as to carry the coffin of the guard who made generations of Quebecers dream during his funeral in 1986, alongside a certain Jean Beliveau.
What’s next? A transfer to grande Lugano in 1987, with 2 championship titles under the orders of Swedish coach John Slettvoll. “It was a great pride that this club was interested in me“, confides Massy, grateful to the ex-president Geo Mantegazzarecently deceased. “A great gentleman“.
As a bonus, he participated in two World Championships in a row with the Swiss team, the second in the world elite in 1991.
After a final season in the LNA with HC Davos in 1993/94, Massy came full circle in player mode in 1998 with a final promotion, in the LNB this time, with his training club. “With Jean Gagnon and Co., we were a team of friends“, he says.
At first, I didn’t want to whistle any louder than in the 1st League
Then, after an interlude as a coach between 2000 and 2008, Massy transformed into a “zebra man” in 2007. One by one, he climbed the ranks to the National League. “At the beginning, however, I didn’t want to go higher than in the 1st League“, he admits.
The icing on the cake was that he whistled the final of the 2013 U20 World Championship in Russia, which saw the United States win 3-1 against Sweden. “It’s one of the only matches where I felt a certain pressure“, says the Sierre resident.
On his 50th birthday – the limit for playing at the international level – he managed future NHL stars like the late Johnny Gaudreau or Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi’s longtime Nashville teammate.
In a nutshell: Massy’s rich and atypical career commands respect.
Interview and text by Michaël Taillard, videos by Thomas Zinguinian
