Photo credit: James Guillory – Imagn Images
The NHL has officially announced their officiating crew that will be participating in the Stanley Cup Finals between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
For the first time since 2009, the Stanley Cup Finals matchup will feature a rematch of the previous year as the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers are set to get reacquainted with one another starting Wednesday night.
The NHL has as officially announced it’s officiating crew that includes 4 referees and 4 linespersons. The referee group will be headlined by Francis Charron, Jean Hebert, Wes McCauley, and Chris Rooney, whereas the linespersons are Devin Berg, Scott Cherrey, Ryan Gibbons, and Trent Knorr.
It is a veteran-laden lineup of referees with McCauley participating in his 11th Stanley Cup Finals and 3rd in the last 4 years and Rooney taking part in his 8th Finals and 4th straight dating back to 2022. Meanwhile, Eric Furlatt, Dan O’Rourke, Garrett Rank, and Kelly Sutherland participated in the Conference Finals but were not included in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Linespersons in Gibbons and Knorr will be particpating in their first Stanley Cup Finals, whereas this will be Berg’s 2nd and Cherrey’s 6th. Ryan Daisy, Matt MacPherson, Bevan Mills, and Jonny Murray won’t be joining the party after participating in the Conference Finals.
Furlatt and Sutherland as well as Rank and Hebert are two pairings that have worked together over the course of the playoffs. The former worked 3 games during the second round, including Game 5 between Florida and Toronto, whereas the latter worked in 4 games during the second round, which also included Game 6 of the Panthers and Maple Leafs series.
As for the actual championship round, the Panthers will be looking to defend their crown and tack on consecutive Stanley Cups like their state-rivals in the Tampa Bay Lightning. On the other side of the equation, superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will try to end Canada’s long drought and bring home hockey’s greatest prize for the first time since 1993.
Previously on MapleLeafsDaily