NHL announces referees for the Battle of Ontario.
The Maple Leafs' prayers have been answered, but now there will be no excuses.
If you've been paying any attention to the discussions leading up to the Battle of Ontario that will take place in the opening round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, there has been plenty of talk regarding the officiating in this series already.
On Saturday, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube may have attempted to play a little gamesmanship when he called out the antics of Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle, but there was still one question on everyone's mind. Who would be officiating this series?
If you know anything about the fanbase of the Toronto Maple Leafs they had one very specific request, or perhaps prayer would be the better word here, and that request was to get anyone other than National Hockey League referee Wes McCauley. The Maple Leafs fanbase has come to resent McCauley and he has on occasion had rather public spats with members of the Maple Leafs coaching staff, notably former head coach Sheldon Keefe.
That being said, Maple Leafs fans will be relieved to learn that their prayers have been answered, at least for now, with Wes McCauley being nowhere near this series. Instead it was announced on Sunday that NHL referees Garrett Rank and Brian Pochmara will be officiating Game 1 on Sunday night.
The reaction from Maple Leafs fans tells the whole story:
Of course now there will be no excuses to be made barring some truly egregious calls on the ice from these officials.
