Referee Wes McCauley was supposed to have the night off. Instead, the Game 2 standby official was called into action to work the lines at Florida Panthers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs.

Refs Dan O’Rourke (#9) and Francois St-Laurent (#8) were assigned to the game, along with linespersons Shandor Alphonso (#52) and Matt MacPherson (#83).  Alphonso failed to return to the ice after the second intermission. Instead, number 85 was skating around prior to puck drop.

The two lineys combined to handle seven icings in the third period along with 24 faceoffs – with MacPherson handling the puck drops.  The duo faced no coach’s challenges and had no fights to break up.

 

 

McCauley was coming off working Game 1 between the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals.  He hopped on a flight to Toronto Wednesday morning, never expecting he’d actually be taking the ice. 

The veteran official from Georgetown, Ontario, who made his NHL debut in 2003, has officiated 1,439 regular season games along with 210 playoff appearances, including nine trips to the Stanley Cup Final. 

As far as we could tell, McCauley has not previously worked the lines during his 22-year National Hockey League career — and possibly longer.  The former Michigan State Spartan and ECHLer made the jump to refereeing after retiring from international hockey  in 1997.

This is the third time we’ve seen a standby official take the ice so far this postseason.  Referee Frederick L’Ecuyer subbed in for the injured Bryan Pancich during Game 1 of the opening round series between the Minnesota Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights.  Referee Chris Schlenker replaced liney Andrew Smith at Game 2 of St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets.  L’Ecuyer donned Pancich’s spare #94 jersey, but Schlenker and McCauley both sported the #85 on the ice.  Linesman Scott Cherrey was also hit by a puck during Panthers vs. Lightning, but was able to remain in the game.

Each NHL team is required to keep a set of spare officials’ jerseys – #35 for the referees and #85 for linespersons – just in case of emergency. We’ve had officials’ luggage get lost – also resulting in borrowed skates and pants – and jerseys get damaged during a game, prompting the ol’ #35 or #85 to be called into action.

During the playoffs, we not only have spare jerseys, but spare officials as well. Each playoff game has at least one official on standby, ready to spring into action. For elimination games as well as during the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, the league has a dedicated standby referee and standby linesperson for each game. With no dedicated liney for Game 2, it was up to McCauley to man the lines.

Alphonso, 40, is in his tenth season in the league. The Orangeville, Ontario, native made his National Hockey League debut in 2014.  There’s no word on the reason he was forced to leave Wednesday’s game, nor any update on his status. 

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs – leading 3-2 at the time of McCauley’s entrace into the game – held on for a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers.