Blues GM Doug Armstrong mourning loss of Hall of Fame father

It's never easy to lose a beloved family member, especially when it's so close to the Holidays. Unfortunately, that's exactly what St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong and his family are doing. The team has announced that Armstrong's father, Neil Armstrong, has passed away. The Hockey Hall-of-Famer was 87 years old.

The elder Armstrong began playing minor hockey in Ontario at a young age, but never went further than that with playing. However, after officiating a game in the league, he decided that was his calling and obtained his his Ontario Hockey Association certification shortly after. His first NHL game as a linesmen came in November of 1957 when he was 24, a match between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. The two teams got into a brawl near the end of the game and Armstrong broke up a fight involving Boston's Fern Flaman, who later skated up to him with his arm dangling and shouting "you broke my arm!". It turned out that Flaman was only kidding.

In total, Armstrong officiated a total of 1,744 games. During his career, he had been seriously injured just once and had never missed a game, which helped him earn the nickname "Ironman". He retired in 1978 and became a scout for the Montreal Canadiens. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as an official in 1991.

Our sincere condolences go out to Armstrong's family, friends and fans.

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