It’s a new NHL season, and that means new faces across the league — both on teams and in stripes.
One of the NHL’s newest officials is set to make his NHL debut on Thursday night. Linesman Ryan Gibbons will hit the ice to work the Dallas Stars’ home opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Gibbons will work alongside veteran linesman Shane Heyer and with referees Graham Skilliter and Tom Kowal.
Gibbons, a Level 4 official from Vancouver, BC, worked in the AHL in 2014-15, making it as far as the playoffs. He’s also manned the lines in the WHL since 2011. Gibbons previously worked the IIHF’s 2014 World Junior A Challenge, the 2014 Royal Bank Cup, and the 2013 Memorial Cup.
The former Seattle Thunderbird was a sixth-round draft pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2003. The six-foot-four, 210-pound Gibbons went on to play three seasons in the ECHL before his playing career came to a close.
Here’s wishing him a successful NHL debut!
