The PWHL will open the 2026-27 season with 42 on-ice officials – 21 referees and 21 linespersons – down from 59 last season, with five newcomers, 22 departures, and just two sweater number changes. We’ve got all the changes – and the full lineup below.
The PWHL is going smaller – on purpose. The league announced its officiating roster for the 2026-27 season on Thursday, and the group has been trimmed from 59 officials to 42 – 21 referees and 21 linespersons. Thirty-seven officials return from last season, joined by five newcomers, while 22 officials from the 2025-26 roster are not coming back.
The smaller staff comes even as the PWHL schedule grows from 120 regular-season games to 180. The league’s thinking is straightforward: fewer officials means more games for each of them, and more games means greater consistency from crew to crew. The roster is nearly balanced from a gender standpoint, with 22 women and 20 men.
“The PWHL has made a significant commitment to ensuring a consistent, world-class standard of officiating,” said Jayna Hefford, the PWHL’s Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, citing strengthened pathways for “training, communication, logistics and performance development” under the officiating department. “Player safety and innovation have been at our forefront since the league’s inception, and we believe these objectives are represented in this season’s rule updates.”
The leadership group is unchanged: Bill McCreary returns as Director of Officiating, Strategy & Performance, David Taveroff as Director of Officiating, Operations, and Katie Guay as Director of Officiating, Training, Development & Recruitment. This season’s announcement also names the league’s supervisors – former NHL linesman Steve Barton, former NHL referee and Director of Officiating Bryan Lewis, and Ken Wheler – along with the Central Situation Room staff of Liam Clare, Ken Cox, and Steven Hoffner. The announcement also names the league’s Player Safety Committee: Matt McMahon as chair, alongside Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Mike Murphy.
New officials
Five officials join the PWHL this season – one referee and four linespersons:
- Referee Mike Langin (#34) of West Kelowna, BC
- Linesperson Alexander Ledovskiy (#55) of Redwood City, CA
- Linesperson Mitchell Gibbs (#57) of Surrey, BC – Gibbs also works in the AHL
- Linesperson Nathan Howes (#65) of Burnaby, BC
- Linesperson Nikolaus Diehr (#83) of Irvine, CA
Who’s not back
Twenty-two officials from last season’s roster are not returning: 10 referees and 12 linespersons. The departed referees are Andrew Bell, Hillary Brennan, Jarrett Burton, Alexandra Clarke, Kelly Cooke, Melissa Doyle, Beatrice Fortin, Tatu Kunto, Bobby Jo Love, and Amanda Tassoni. The departed linespersons are Colleen Butler, Jenny Cameron, Jessica Chartrand, Joanie Duchesneau, Stephanie Gagnon, Erika Greenen, Anthony Lapointe, Amy Laroche, Heidi Niskanen, Greg Offerman, Luke Pye, and Marlowe Schott.
Five of the 15 PWHL officials who worked the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan are among the departures: referees Cooke, Doyle, and Tassoni, along with linespersons Cameron and Clarke.
One departure, though, is a graduation. Linesperson Anthony Lapointe left the PWHL because the NHL hired him full-time – he made his NHL debut on October 3, wearing No. 63 in Chicago’s game at Buffalo, after a climb through the QMJHL, ECHL, AHL, and PWHL that included back-to-back Calder Cup Finals.
Lapointe isn’t the only official to reach the NHL by way of the PWHL. Two members of the league’s inaugural officiating staff – both selected for the first PWHL Finals in 2024 – now wear NHL stripes. Referee Alex Lepkowski is now a part-time NHL referee splitting time with the AHL. Linesperson Jeremy Faucher worked that Finals series, including the deciding Game 5, and is now a full-time NHL linesperson.
Number changes
This season’s numbering is cleanly split: referees wear numbers 3-44 and linespersons wear number 50-89, with no overlap between the two groups. That mirrors the NHL’s numbering scheme for the stripes.
Two returning officials change sweater numbers this season. Referee Brandy Beecroft moves from #33 to #6 – the number worn last season by departed referee Andrew Bell – and referee Shauna Neary moves from #49 to #19. Every other returning official keeps the same number as last season.
Linesperson Melissa Pateman, who skated as Melissa Brunn last season, returns at No. 73.
PWHL officials at the Women’s Worlds
Eight of the league’s officials won’t have to wait for the PWHL season to get to work – they’re already in Denmark for the IIHF Women’s World Championship, which opens Friday. Referees Jenn Berezowski, Sydney Harris, Amy Martin, Shauna Neary, and Laura Schmidlein, and linespersons Ali Beres, Katie Glover, and Sophie Thomson are among the 24 officials selected for the tournament.
Working other pro leagues
Plenty of these officials moonlight in the men’s pro and junior ranks. Referees Samantha Hiller and Cianna Murray also work in the AHL, linesperson Kirsten Welsh skates in the AHL, ECHL, and OHL, linesperson Justine Todd works the OHL, and newcomer Mitchell Gibbs is also an AHL linesperson.
Here’s the full rundown of who’ll be wearing the stripes and the bands in the PWHL this season:
2026-27 PWHL Referees
| # | Name | Hometown |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Jake Kamrass | Cumming, GA |
| 4 | Jenn Berezowski | Quinte West, ON |
| 6 | Brandy Beecroft | Sault Ste. Marie, ON |
| 10 | Michelle McKenna | Regina, SK |
| 11 | David Elford | Kitchener, ON |
| 12 | Samantha Hiller | Gurnee, IL |
| 13 | Cianna Murray | Saskatoon, SK |
| 14 | Jared Cummins | Williamsville, NY |
| 15 | Élizabeth Mantha | Longueuil, QC |
| 18 | Kyle Bauman | River Falls, WI |
| 19 | Shauna Neary | Halifax, NS |
| 20 | Marie-Ève Couture | Chambly, QC |
| 22 | Grace Barlow | Vancouver, BC |
| 23 | Laura Schmidlein | Quincy, MA |
| 25 | Chad Ingalls | Woodstock, ON |
| 28 | Sydney Harris | Monument, CO |
| 31 | Amy Martin | Winnipeg, MB |
| 32 | Damian Figueira | Toronto, ON |
| 34 | Mike Langin | West Kelowna, BC |
| 39 | Lacey Senuk | Toronto, ON |
| 44 | Jack Hennigan | Toronto, ON |
2026-27 PWHL Linespersons
| # | Name | Hometown |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | Justine Todd | Kawartha Lakes, ON |
| 55 | Alexander Ledovskiy | Redwood City, CA |
| 57 | Mitchell Gibbs | Surrey, BC |
| 60 | Erin Zach | Cambridge, ON |
| 61 | Matthew Williams | Courtenay, BC |
| 64 | Kirsten Welsh | Conway, PA |
| 65 | Nathan Howes | Burnaby, BC |
| 66 | Sarah Buckner | Plymouth, MN |
| 67 | Ali Beres | Brant, ON |
| 68 | Laura Gutauskas | Woolwich, ON |
| 70 | TJ Dockery | Lockport, NY |
| 72 | Antoine Bujold-Roux | Ottawa, ON |
| 73 | Melissa Pateman | Kelowna, BC |
| 75 | Sophie Thomson | Halifax, NS |
| 77 | Patrick Dapuzzo | Rutherford, NJ |
| 79 | Harrison Heyer | Carlsbad, CA |
| 81 | Spencer Knox | Clarington, ON |
| 83 | Nikolaus Diehr | Irvine, CA |
| 84 | Dustin McCrank | Guelph, ON |
| 87 | Chase Eising | Wilden, BC |
| 89 | Katie Glover | Seattle, WA |
Here are the updated rules for the PWHL’s 2026-27 season that these officials will be tasked with enforcing:
