IIHF names officials for Sochi

02 Dec 2013 | Davide Tuniz

The 14 referees and 14 linesmen selected to officiate at the Winter Olympics Games have been named by the IIHF.

The IIHF Officiating Committee announced today the Sochi 2014 final nominations for referees and linesmen: 28 officials (14 referees and 14 linesmen) will officiate the 30 games of the men's tournament, while six referees and nine linesmen will whistle in the 22 games of the women's chace for the medals. Besides seven judges from the NHL, only two countries -- Germany and the Czech Republic -- have more than one representative. Standing out is the absence of any on-ice officials from Switzerland, one of more competitive leagues in Europe. Other top leagues such as Sweden, Finland and the KHL have just one referee each. Lars Brueggemann, who played for Germany at Nagano in 1998, is headed back to the Olympics, this time as an official.

"All of these candidates are considered to be top officials in their respective club leagues," explained IIHF Officiating Manager Konstantin Komissarov. "We made our decisions on three main criteria: physical conditioning, performance in their respective national championships, and their ability to work in a team. This last point is very important for the Olympics, with mixed crews we need to have officials with good communication and teamwork skills so that they can work effectively with each other."

The complete list is below:

Name	Nationality
Lars Brueggemann
Dave Jackson
Antonin Jerabek
Mike Leggo
Brad Meier
Konstantin Olenin
Tim Peel
Daniel Piechaczek
Kevin Pollock
Jyri Ronn
Vladimir Sindler
Kelly Sutherland
Marcus Vinnerborg
Ian Walsh.

Linesmen:

Derek Amel NHL, Lonnie Cameron NHL, Chris Carlson CAN, Ivan Dedulya BLR, Greg Devorski NHL, Tommy George USA, Brad Kovachik NHL, Andy McElman NHL, Andre Schrader GER, Sakari Suominen FIN, Miroslav Valach SVK, Mark Wheler NHL, Jesse Wilmot CAN, Christopher Woodworth USA.