The officials are set for the Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Four of the Winter Games’ hockey officials are returning from the 2018 Pyeongchang games: referees Roman Gofman, Olivier Gouin, and Linus Ohlund, as well as linesperson Gleb Lazarev.
The NHL’s decision to skip the Olympics certainly opened the door for a number of these officials. Had NHL players taken part in the tournament, half of the officials would have come from the National Hockey League. Instead, the IIHF has filled the officiating ranks with 26 officials from 10 countries. Russia leads the officiating contingent with five representatives, followed by Sweden with four, and four countries with three officials: Canada, Czechia, Finland, and the USA.
Here are the referees and linespersons working the 2022 Olympics:
Referees
Andris Ansons (Latvia)
Tobias Bjork (Sweden)
Andrew Bruggeman (USA)
Martin Frano (Czechia)
Roman Gofman (Russia)
Olivier Gouin (Canada)
Michael Campbell (Canada)
Mikko Kaukokari (Finland)
Linus Ohlund (Sweden)
Evgenii Romasko (Russia)
Andre Schrader (Germany)
Maxim Sidorenko (Belarus)
Michael Tscherrig (Switzerland)
Kristian Vikman (Finland)
Linespersons
William Hancock (USA)
Daniel Hynek (Czechia)
Gleb Lazarev (Russia)
Ludvig Lundgren (Sweden)
Andreas Malmqvist (Sweden)
Dustin McCrank (Canada)
Lauri Nikulainen (Finland)
David Obwegeser (Switzerland)
Brian Oliver (USA)
Jiri Ondracek (Czechia)
Nikita Shalagin (Russia)
Dmitry Shishlo (Russia)
Four of the Winter Games’ hockey officials are returning from the 2018 Pyeongchang games: referees Roman Gofman, Olivier Gouin, and Linus Ohlund, as well as linesperson Gleb Lazarev. Eighteen of the Olympic officials recently wore the stripes in the 2021 IIHF World Championship, with Ansons, Bruggeman, Frano, Gofman, Gouin, Hynek, Lazarev, McCrank, Nikulainen, Obwegeser, Oliver, Ondracek, Romasko, Schrader, Shalagin, Sidorenko, Tscherrig, and Vikman all returning.
Referee Evgenii Romasko is the only official with National Hockey League experience. He worked 67 games in the NHL from 2015-2018.
From the IIHF:
Leading up to the selection there has been a longer list of world-class game officials and throughout the season various selection events have been held for the different groups.
The game officials were observed in regular league play as well as in the Final Olympic Qualification events in August and later during the various international tournaments in the International Breaks for the final selection for Beijing 2022.
The Men’s Hockey Preliminary Round gets under way on February 9, with the Gold Medal Game slated for February 20.
Congratulations to the officials selected to work the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The Olympic Women’s Hockey Officials for Beijing 2022 have also been announced: