Forty start, 24 move on. As the teams get eliminated, so do the officials. Here are the NHL Referees and Linesmen moving on to Round 2 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Referees
Francis Charron, Gord Dwyer, Marc Joannette, Steve Kozari, Wes McCauley, Dan O’Rourke, Tim Peel, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Chris Rooney, Francois St. Laurent, and Kelly Sutherland.
Standby referees for the second round are Brad Meier and Jon McIsaac
Out from Round 1: Eric Furlatt, Trevor Hanson, Jean Hebert, Chris Lee, Jon McIsaac, Brad Meier, Dan O’Halloran, Kyle Rehman
Linesmen
Derek Amell, Devin Berg, Scott Cherrey, Michel Cormier, Greg Devorski, Ryan Gibbons, Trent Knorr, Matt MacPherson, Brian Murphy, Jonny Murray, Pierre Racicot, and Mark Shewchyk
Standby linesmen for the second round are Steve Miller and Kiel Murchison
Out from Round 1: Steve Barton, Ryan Daisy, Brad Kovachik, Steve Miller, Kiel Murchison, Bryan Pancich, Tony Sericolo, Andrew Smith
Noteworthy
Four pairings saw both officials move on (Pochmara/McCauley, O’Rourke/Peel, Dwyer/Charron, and Pollock/St. Laurent), while one pairing was completely eliminated (O’Halloran/Furlatt). The duo of Meier/Hanson has also been cut, with Meier only retained in a standby role for the second round.
Meier and Hanson were the duo that worked Game 2 of Leafs/Bruins; unconfirmed reports from TSN1050 stated that the referees were reprimanded following the game. The duo did go on to work the remainder of the opening round.
O’Halloran and Furlatt officiated Game 7 between the Sharks and Golden Knights, which included a pivotal major penalty call against Vegas; San Jose scored four times on the ensuing power play en route to a 5-4 win. O’Halloran hasn’t missed a Conference Final round in over a decade and leads all active referees with 212 playoff games.
Referee Brian Pochmara and linesman Trent Knorr are both making their first trips to the second round.
No word on whether the promoted pairings will stick together or if we’ll see partners shuffled for the second round of the playoffs.
NHL Series Supervisors
For the playoffs, a series supervisor will be assigned to each playoff series. Nearly all are former NHL referees working as Officiating Managers. Here’s the assignments for the second round:
- Bruins vs. Blue Jackets – Bill McCreary*
- Islanders vs. Hurricanes – Rod Pasma
- Sharks vs. Avalanche – Don Van Massenhoven*
- Blues vs. Stars – Kay Whitmore
* Former NHL Referee
Postseason Paychecks
Officials, like players, earn their paychecks for their regular season work. NHL Referees and linesmen, though, get a bonus for working the playoffs.
From the previous NHLOA CBA which ran through 2014, referees earned $18,250 per round worked, while linesmen picked up an additional $12,100 per round. We anticipate that has increased in the most recent agreement.
Standby officials earned $900 for referees and $600 for linesmen, with a bump to $2,450 or $1,650, respectively, if they were called into duty and had to work a game.
Who’s Missing
Check out our previous article on the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoff Referees and Linesmen to see who made the cut and who missed the postseason altogether.
Congratulations to all the referees and linesmen selected to work the second round of the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs