The ECAC has named Paul Duffy and George Starr directors of the conference’s Division III ice hockey leagues.
Duffy will serve as the director of the men’s and women’s ECAC West leagues and will oversee what the conference calls “an aggressive management program for officiating.” Starr will be the director for the men’s East and Northeast and women’s East leagues as well as continuing as the officiating coordinator for the men’s ECAC East and NESCAC.
In their roles, Duffy and Starr will serve as the commissioner’s liaison with the coaches, athletic administrators, and game officials of the Conference’s five leagues and 49 teams.
“I am extremely excited to have Paul and George expand their relationships with the ECAC to serve in these capacities,” said ECAC commissioner Phil Buttafuoco. “Their expertise, professionalism and overall relationships with the hockey community will serve the ECAC, the institutions, the student-athletes and officials very well.”
The hiring of Duffy, of [nl]Geneseo, N.Y., reunites him with Buttafuoco and the ECAC. Duffy served last season as supervisor of officials for the ECAC’s Division I hockey conferences. His contract was not renewed after Steve Hagwell was named Division I hockey commissioner in a shake-up of the management of those leagues in April.
Duffy, who has served as secretary and rules editor of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Rules Committee since 1989, played college hockey at St. Lawrence, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1968. Duffy spent four seasons as an on-ice official in the WCHA (1970-74) and eight seasons in the ECAC (1974-82).
Duffy retired in 2001 after a 28-year career as head coach at Geneseo. He was an NCAA ice hockey committee member from 1985 to 1987 and chair of the NCAA Division III Ice Hockey Championship Committee from 1988 until 1990.
Starr, who resides in Saco, [nl]Maine, has been an ECAC ice hockey official since 1985 and also officiates both college and high school men’s lacrosse. A 1982 graduate of Bentley College, Starr has held management positions at the corporate level at Digital Equipment Corporation, and has most recently been involved in the operation and successful growth of a multi-state, multi-franchise, family-owned retail transportation business.
