The International Ice Hockey Federation has announced the officials for the 2022 IIHF World Juniors.
While the tournament is again taking place in Canada, this year’s even has returned to a more international pool of officials. In 2021, we saw an all-Canadian officiating lineup. This year, seven countries will be represented in the 19 officials handling the tournament.
This year’s championship is being held in Edmonton, with the games rescheduled after cancellation due to COVID-19 back in December. The results of any games played in December will not count – aside from the suspension to Sweden’s Leo Loof.
The games will start fresh, and so will some of the officials. There have been a handful of changes in the officiating lineup for the August event.
The updated IIHF officials for this year’s tournament:
Referees
Adam Bloski #16 (CAN)
Riku Brander #18 (FIN)
Sean Fernandez #17 (USA)
Robert Hennessey #14 (USA)
Stephen Hiff #13 (CAN) – Added
Christoffer Holm #22 (SWE)
Sirko Hunnius #11 (GER) – Added
Adam Kika #19 (CZE)
Joonas Kova #12 (FIN)
Kyle Kowalski #15 (CAN)
Linesmen
Kevin Briganti #61 (USA)
Eric Cattaneo #57 (SUI) – Added
Andreas Hofer #58 (GER)
Cody Huseby #55 (CAN)
Niko Jusi #64 (FIN) – Added
Brett Mackey #62 (CAN)
Shawn Oliver #56 (CAN) – Added
John Rey #50 (USA) – Added
Josef Spur #51 (CZE) – Added
Three officials are returning from the 2021 World Juniors; referees Adam Bloski and Kyle Kowalski along with linesman Brett Mackey are all working their second consecutive WJCs.
Officials working the tournament in December who are no longer taking part include referees Andreas Harnebring (SWE), Marc Iwert (GER), Morgan MacPhee (CAN), Jake Recucki (USA), and Sergey Yudakov (RUS), along with linesmen Dario Fuchs (SUI), Ryan Jackson (CAN), Tommi Niityla (FIN) and Roman Slavikovskii (RUS).
Officiating Coaches include Eddy Guay (Canada), Al Kimmel (NHL/Canada), Kevin Muench (WHL/Canada), Masi Puolakka (FIN), Ben Ringrose (USA Hockey/USA), and Patrik Sjoberg (SWE).
The tournament kicks off August 9, with the Gold Medal Game scheduled for August 20 at Rogers Place in Edmonton. In the meantime, feel free to brush up on the IIHF Rulebook.
Congratulations to the referees and linesmen selected to work the 2022 World Juniors.