Tonight is Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between Pittsburgh and San Jose. Just like the two teams are the two best standing after a long season, the men who wear the stripes are the best standing after a long and grueling season.
Scouting The Refs has the breakdown of the four referee’s and four linesmen chosen to work this year’s championship series, and they all have previously worked a Stanley Cup Final so hockey’s biggest stage is nothing new to them.
The four referee’s chosen are Wes McCauley, Dan O’Halloran, Dan O’Rourke, and Kelly Sutherland. O’Halloran has worked the most Final of the group, having worked in June nine of the last 10 seasons. McCauley is skating his fourth straight Final, joins O’Halloran as the only referee’s returning from last season.
As for the linesmen, those guys are Derek Amell, Brian Murphy, Jonny Murray, and Pierre Racicot. Murray has the fewest Stanley Cup Final appearance under his belt, as 2012 was his only other assignment. The other three worked the Tampa Bay – Chicago series last season. Raciot is making his seventh Final appearance in the last eight seasons, most of the group.
The eight officials have been assigned 40 Stanley Cup Finals combined. Scouting The Refs also reported that O’Rourke and O’Halloran are slated to work tonight’s Game 1 together, with McCauley on location as a standby. The linesmen scheduled for Game 1 are Amell and Murray with Raciot as the standby.
NHL Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 2013 how officials are chosen to work not only playoff games, but also the Stanley Cup Final:
“It’s their presence in a game, it’s their control in tough situations, it’s following the NHL standard, it’s the ability to keep up with the game physically,” said Walkom. “The evaluation is ongoing. At the end of the year, we put together the guys who we consider are performing the best to go into the playoffs. Then each and every round, it gets knocked out so we have our best team of officials in the Cup.”
