NHL names 5 referees for the Stanley Cup Final.

With the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, defeating the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final we are now all set for the Stanley Cup Final which is set to begin on Wednesday and will feature the aforementioned Lightning taking on the Colorado Avalanche.

It should prove to be a very exciting series and as a result I, and I suspect many other fans, hope that the series will be well managed by the league's officials and things will go down relatively smoothly. In the hopes of achieving that goal the National Hockey League has assigned 5 officials to this series, some more controversial than others.

The 5 referees are the following:

#5 Chris Rooney

#15 Jean Hebert

#19 Gord Dwyer

#4 Wes McCauley

#11 Kelly Sutherland

Although the league has no doubt put forward it's best team of officials, the inclusion of Wes McCauley here is particularly noteworthy due to the fact that he was involved in what was considered by some to be a controversial call, one that changed the outcome of a game in these playoffs. I am of course referring to the now infamous goal scored by Blake Coleman of the Calgary Flames in Game 5 of their second round series against the Edmonton Oilers, a goal that was overturned by the officiating crew on the ice.

There are those who feel McCauley and company made the correct call by wiping Coleman's goal off the scoreboard, but even just as recently as this week the call was still being criticized by the likes of former NHL head coach Don Cherry.

"The second goal... now they didn't count the goal in Calgary... it wasn't [a distinct kicking motion] it was steered in," said Cherry on Sunday. "Now the second goal last night it went off his knee... The people in Calgary are a little upset, some of the people should be upset that they counted that goal and they didn't count the Calgary goal."

"Anyhow I'm speaking now for the people of Calgary," said Cherry. "They should have won, they should have won that game... they're still talking about that goal in Calgary."

Cherry isn't alone in his criticism of that game-changing call either. Pundits like David Alter and Scott Wheeler have also expressed their concern over the NHL's inconsistent rulings on this topic, specifically as it pertained to Coleman's disallowed goal in Game 5.

In defense of McCauley he does have an incredibly difficult job, especially in a sport as fast paced as hockey and that goes double for hockey at the NHL level. McCauley has also had some memorable moments in the playoffs on the positive side of things as well, including this rather amusing interaction with Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Hopefully McCauley and the other officials selected for this task can avoid any controversy in the Final.