Hockey Refs Are Built Different, Practically Get Their Arms Slashed Off Their Body And Stay In The Game
When you think about it, hockey linesmen are really the only refs in sports that have to break up fights. Basketball and baseball players will rarely go beyond just pushing and shoving. Every once in a while you'll see football players start to throw some punches but the players usually get in there quickly to break it all up. Even boxing and MMA refs are just calling a fight instead of being forced to go in there and break it up.
But when the boys drop the gloves and start letting some bombs fly on the ice, it comes down to NHL linesmen to go in there and break them up. So just by their nature, hockey refs are always going to be tougher than any other brand of ref out there. We didn't need any further evidence, but that's exactly what we received last night as Devin Berg tried to put himself in the middle of a little dust up between Max Jones of the Bruins and Evan Rodrigues of the Florida Panthers. That maniac Max Jones goes to chop Rodrigues' arm in half when Devin Berg ends up taking one for the team.
Barely even flinches. Just takes it like a good ol' boy from Ontario. Gets patched up real quick and is right back on the ice to finish out the game. Ed Hochuli would have been sent to the shadow realm after a slash like that. Angel Hernandez would have needed to get medevac'd out of the stadium. I don't even know any soccer refs but they'd have to get their friends and family together for the funeral soon if they got slashed like that. But not Devin Berg. He's an NHL linesman and those dudes are nails. Probably asked Max Jones to slash his other arm before the night was over just to even himself out.
P.S. -- Somewhere in Kitchener right now, Dennis Wideman is smiling ear to ear.