Referee Liam Maaskant will worked his first National Hockey League game on Thursday April 17th – the final day of the regular season – as the Buffalo Sabres hosted the Philadelphia Flyers.
Maaskant (#45) will took the ice alongside referee Peter MacDougall (#38) and linespersons James Tobias (#61) and Brad Kovachik (#71).
Maaskant is the league’s newest official, while Kovachik leads all active officials with 1,904 regular season games worked.
The Clinton, Ontario, native was hired prior to the start of the 2024-25 season with ref Alex Lepkowski, who made his debut two weeks ago.
Maaskant, 30, played four seasons in the OHL, skating with the Erie Otters, Barrie Colts and Kitchener Rangers, alongside Lepkowski, Ekblad, Schiefele, Mackenzie Blackwood, and Andreas Athanasiou. He then headed to Nova Scotia’s Acadia University to play five years with the Axemen.
He attended the NHL Officiating Combine in 2022, going on to don the stripes in the ECHL, AHL, and PWHL.
Congratulations to referee Liam Maaskant on the start of his National Hockey League career!
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