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Following Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella made a point of honouring former NHL referee Mick McGeough, who died Friday.

“I had so much respect for him as far as how he handled himself back in the day,” Tortorella said, as reported by Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, while sending condolences to the McGeough family.

“You know what, he’d come over to you, and he’d give it back to you when he felt he was being taken advantage of, and you’d give it back to him. But, at the end of the day, there was a mutual respect. There was a communication.

“We lost a good one. Forget about the game of hockey. We lost a good person at such a tender age of 62.”

McGeough, from Regina, suffered a stroke Nov. 18. He was removed from life support after the damage was deemed to be irreversible.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league “lost a true friend of the game.”