The NHL has announced its referees and linesmen for tonight’s big Game 7 in San Jose between the Sharks and Preds.
Three referees are on the sheet: Dan O’Rourke, Brad Watson and Chris Lee.
Scouting The Refs, a terrific resource for all things officiating, is leaning towards an O’Rourke-Watson combo, but does note that Lee was O’Rourke’s partner through the first two playoff rounds.
The NHL has listed three linesmen as well for tonight’s game: Jay Sharrers, Michel Cormier and Steve Miller.
Quick rundown on what the the aforementioned zebras have experienced this postseason:
O’Rourke: Part of the officiating crew (along with Lee) that failed to penalize Caps forward Tom Wilson for his knee-on-knee hit on Connor Sheary during the Pens series. Wilson was later fined $2,400 for the incident.
O’Rourke was also part of the crew that correctly judged T.J. Oshie’s OT winner in Game 1 of that series.
Lee: See above re: Wilson hit. Lee also worked Game 1 of the Pens-Caps series with O’Rourke.
Watson: Called that crazy Game 3 of the Isles-Bolts series, the one that featured the Thomas Hickey-on-Jonathan Drouin hit and the Brian Boyle-on-Hickey hit. Neither were called penalties on the ice, and neither was subjected to supplemental discipline.
Of course, that didn’t stop Isles head coach Jack Capuano from singling out Watson after the game.
A reminder that Preds-Sharks goes tonight at 9 p.m. ET, on NBCSN.