Referee Reid Anderson will be making his NHL debut tonight in Buffalo as the Sabres take on the Arizona Coyotes.
Anderson, 28, will be joined on the ice by referee Eric Furlatt and linesmen Tony Sericolo and Ryan Daisy.
Anderson, a Calgary native, worked some games in the preseason, including one memorable moment where he reminded Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon where to go to serve his penalty.
From the NHLOA:
Anderson started officiating at the age of 14 as a way to get more ice time and also a way to earn a few bucks at the same time. He comes from an officiating family, as his dad and one of his brothers are also hockey officials as well. The graduate from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Geomatics Engineering Technology worked his way up the officiating ladder through the Hockey Alberta officiating program.
After working all levels of amateur hockey in the province during his first eight seasons, he attended the Alberta Provincial officiating development camp in 2008 before reaching the Western Hockey League (WHL) the following summer (2009) as a linesman. During his time as a linesman in the WHL, Anderson also attended the 2010 Hockey Canada Program of Excellence Camp and also worked the lines at the 2011 World Under 17 Challenge.
Then in 2014, after five seasons in the WHL, he decided to make the transition from linesman to referee. He spent the following four seasons in the WHL working on his new craft. He was selected for a second time that same year to work the World Under 17 Challenge but this time as a referee. The following fall (2015) saw Anderson being selected by Hockey Canada to attend their prestigious Level VI certification seminar in Moncton, NB, the highest level of officiating in Canada.
He continued to reach new levels in 2016 when he made the American Hockey League officiating team as a referee on a part time status while still working the majority of his assignments in the WHL. With all of his recent successes in the officiating world, his name started to circulate around the NHL officiating department as a potential prospect. That earned him an invitation to the 2016 NHL Officiating Combine held in Buffalo NY. He went back to the WHL and AHL the following season where he continued to have perform and was ultimately rewarded that year by being selected to work the 2017 WHL Finals. NHL Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom offered him a NHL Minor Leagues Referee contract in the summer of 2017.
The NHL hired six new officials prior to the start of the 2017-18 NHL season. Linesmen Travis Gawryletz, Andrew Smith, Libor Suchanek, and Jamie Tobias have all seen action this season, splitting time between the NHL and AHL. With Anderson’s debut, that leaves only referee Corey Syvret as the lone new hire yet to work his first NHL game. Expect to see Syvret hit the ice in the next few weeks.
Congratulations to NHL Referee Reid Anderson on his first NHL game!
