Referee Beau Halkidis will be making his NHL debut tonight when the Ottawa Senators host the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Halkidis will take the ice alongside referee Steve Kozari and linesmen Brad Kovachik and Libor Suchanek.

He’s spent the past season refereeing in the AHL, ECHL, SPHL. Prior to that, Halkidis worked in each of those leagues as a linesman.

From the NHLOA:

Halkidis was born in London, Ontario but grew up close to Charlotte, North Carolina where he played his minor hockey. At the age of 15, he went back to Canada to play with the York Simcoe Express Midget AAA during the 2009-10 season. Halkidis would also spent the following two seasons in his native country when he suited up for the Ridley College Tigers (2010-12). His playing days ended in the summer of 2012 just before he turned 18 when he decided to move back to North Carolina and pursue schooling in law enforcement.

A few years went by before his father, former NHL player Bob Halkidis sparked an interest in his son about giving officiating a try. Reluctant at first, Beau decided to jump in the adventure and officially started his officiating journey when he attended the Don Koharski’s Officiating School held in Hamilton, Ontario in the summer of 2015. His performances at the officiating school got noticed right away and from there he was offered an invitation to attend the NHL Officiating Combine that same summer.

The USA Hockey Officiating Program also gave him a try-out that year and the former defenseman decided to pack his bags and move to Minneapolis, MN after he was offered a position as a referee in the NA3HL, NAHL and the USHL for the 2015-16 season. Halkidis was again invited to attend the NHL Officiating Combine the following summer (2016). He moved back to North Carolina and worked the following season in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL) but this time as a linesman. He attended the NHL Officiating Combine for a third year in a row in the summer of 2017. He then decided to go back and wear the orange arm bands again the following season working the SPHL, ECHL and AHL as a referee. Halkidis was offered a minor leagues referee contract by the National Hockey League in the summer of 2018 at the age of 24.

Best of luck to Beau Halkidis on tonight’s game and with the rest of his NHL career.