Linesman Caleb Apperson will take the ice for the first time tonight in the National Hockey League.
Apperson, 30, will make his debut as the Buffalo Sabres host the Vancouver Canucks. He’ll take the ice alongside veteran linesman Derek Nansen and referees TJ Luxmore and Kendrick Nicholson.
From the NHLOA:
Caleb was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario. Watching the Kitchener Rangers Jr.A as a kid sparked his passion for the game. He played two full seasons with the Kitchener Dutchmen (2009-2011) after that he played a season for the Georgetown Raiders (2011-2012). He would dress up for the Milverton 4Wheeldrives (Senior A) the following year. He then attended Laurentian University where he played for the Voyageurs along with studying Health Promotion (2013 – 2018) After graduating university he would go on and play a season and a half in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) for the Birmingham bulls (2017-2019) while also traveling across the globe to play in Adelaide, Australia during the summer of 2018.
Caleb attended the NHL Officiating Exposure Combine in the summer of 2019, a camp that looks to promote individuals with hockey experience into officiating. From there he was selected to work in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) along with the American Hockey League (AHL) for the following two seasons. He was hired under a NHL Minor league linesman contract by the NHL during the summer of 2021.
Apperson is the fifth newly-hired linesman to make his NHL debut this season, joining AHL/NHL officials Mitchell Hunt, CJ Murray, and full-timers Jonathan Deschamps and Ben O’Quinn — the latter of whom also made his debut in Buffalo.
The Kitchener native will wear #77.
Congratulations to Caleb Apperson on the first game of his NHL career!
