Congratulations to Bob Fyrer on His Retirement from the AHL

Congratulations to Bob Fyrer, the Atlantic District Officiating Program Regional Coordinator for for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area, who officiated his last game in the American Hockey League last night in Allentown. His last game was a game between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the WB/Scranton Penguins, which was watched by 8,420 spectators.

Bob has been officiating AHL games in this part of the country since 1998. He retired at age 40 due to the risk of further injury. According to The Morning Call, Bob said, "This is my 17th year in the league, 25th year refereeing. Last year, I suffered my 14th concussion. It's time to put it away before I really get hurt."

Bob cited the late Mike Condon as a mentor and friend. Mike passed away in 2002 and remains an inspiration to everyone in officiating who knew him. "{Mike} worked my first game with me in Hershey, and unfortunately I worked his last game with him in Wilkes-Barre."

Bob worked his final AHL game with David Banfield and Ryan Frasier as the referees, and Judson Ritter as his partner on the lines.

[ Photo credits: The photos we shared in our article were taken by other people. The ice level of Bob was taken by April Bartholomew of The Morning Call and originally appeared in Bethlehem referee Bob Fyrer hangs up his skates. The photo of the PPL Center scoreboard with Bob's name and face displayed was taken by Stef Boyer and originally appeared on Facebook. The photo of Bob dropping the puck at center ice at the PPL Center was taken by John Casey, Jr., and originally appeared in his posts on Facebook and Instagram. ]