Four veteran NHL referees on their way to Turin to work the upcoming Winter Olympic Games made a return to their American Hockey League roots on Wednesday night as the AHL continued to play a prominent role as the top development ground for the NHL’s officiating program.
Don VanMassenhoven worked the game between Norfolk and Hershey at the Giant Center. VanMassenhoven, who was in the AHL on a rehab assignment earlier this year, is in his 13th NHL season.
Paul Devorski, who made his NHL debut in 1989, called the game between Portland and Binghamton at the Broome County Arena.
Dennis LaRue, a veteran of some 600 NHL games, was at Allstate Arena as Chicago played host to Syracuse.
And Dan Marouelli, in his 22nd year in the NHL, worked the whistle as Philadelphia hosted Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at the Wachovia Spectrum.
The Olympic tournament uses a one-referee system, like the AHL. The National Hockey League uses two referees for its games.
