VANCOUVER — Dan O'Halloran and Stephen Walkom will get the call to serve as the referees for the final game of the hockey season.
That pair will work Game 7 at Rogers Arena as the Bruins and Canucks finally settle this Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night.
It will be the first time O'Halloran and Walkom have worked together in the Final, but they have each served as referees in three other games in the series.
O'Halloran worked Game 2 in Vancouver, which the Canucks won 3-2 in overtime, and Games 4 and 6 in Boston. The Bruins prevailed in each of those, winning 4-0 in Game 4 and 5-2 in Game 6. O'Halloran worked each of those games with Kelly Sutherland, with that pair making five penalty calls for 10 minutes in Game 2, 21 calls for 66 minutes in Game 4 and 19 calls for 60 minutes in Game 6.
Walkom worked Games 1, 3 and 5 with Dan O'Rourke. The Bruins lost Game 1 in Vancouver 1-0 with 14 penalties for 28 minutes called and both teams going 0-for-6 on the power play. The Bruins won Game 3 in Boston 8-1 in a game that featured 25 penalties for 125 minutes, including seven misconducts, three majors and a game misconduct. Aaron Rome got the gamer, and later a four-game suspension, for his late hit on Nathan Horton.
Game 5 was a bit more controlled, with just nine penalties for 18 minutes, including a diving call on Alex Burrows. Walkom and O'Rourke didn't fall for most of Vancouver's attempted embellishments, as they did not penalize Zdeno Chara for his tap on Maxim Lapierre that left the Canucks agitator doubled over like he had been shot.
Game 6 had more controversy with Canucks forward Mason Raymond suffering a broken vertebrae in his back on a hit into the boards by Johnny Boychuk. Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis was upset with the play and the lack of any punishment for Boychuk, who was not penalized on the play and not fined or suspended by the league.
Gillis also did not appear pleased with the officiating in general, but stopped short of saying anything that could earn him a fine from the league when asked about it on Tuesday.
"That's a question I don't think I can answer without getting myself into trouble under any circumstances, so I'm not going to answer that," Gillis said. "It isn't right for me to speculate or to comment on officiating."
O'Halloran and Walkom also worked together in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final between the Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins won that game 1-0 on a late Horton goal in a game that did not have a single penalty called.
The linesmen for Game 7 will be Jay Sharrers and Jean Morin, who also worked the lines for Games 2, 4 and 6.
