The four referees and four linesmen to work the 2015 Stanley Cup Final have been announced, per the NHL Officials Association.
REFEREES
Wes McCauley, Dan O’Halloran, Kevin Pollock, Kelly Sutherland
LINESMEN
Derek Amell, Shane Heyer, Brian Murphy, Pierre Racicot
Some notes about the zebras:
-- Back-to-back Cup Final appearances for McCauley and O’Halloran, who both worked the Rangers-Kings series last year. McCauley has since formed a “go-to” tandem with Pollock this postseason, as the pair has been tasked with a number of key tilt, including the Rangers-Lightning Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Final.
-- Sutherland is back in the mix after last calling a Cup Final in 2011 (Boston-Vancouver).
-- Those cut from the conference finals? Eric Furlatt, Steve Kozari, Chris Rooney and Brad Watson. The latter, of course, was embroiled in controversy after an (alleged) verbal altercation with Montreal’s Brandon Prust in Round 2. Prust, who was tagged with 31 penalty minutes in a Game 2 loss to the Lightning, accused Watson of trying “to play God,” adding that the veteran referee “kept provoking me, he came to the box and called me every name in the book.”
Prust later apologized for his remarks, and was fined $5,000 for what the NHL called “baseless and demeaning” comments, and Watson moved onto to the next round.
-- As for the linesmen, only Derek Amell returns from the crew that called last year’s Cup Final.