Major Update Emerges on Referee Chris Rooney Following Horrifying Incident

Amidst the drama of a Game 7 between the divisional foes Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs was a scary injury to referee Chris Rooney.

Just seconds into the 2nd period, Rooney was hurt when he took an accidental high stick to his face from Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola, causing him to immediately collapse to the ice while bleeding profusely.

Immediately, trainers from both clubs came to his aid while arena personnel eventually had a considerable cleanup job to do.

A stretcher was briefly carted out in Rooney's direction, but it was decided that he didn't need it.

The good news for Rooney is that while he won't return to the game, he received stitches above his eye; there was immediate concern that his eye could have been the principal point of contact with Mikkola's stick blade.

Top analyst Elliotte Friedman also put the concerns of fans at ease about Rooney's condition, saying that his eye wasn't affected by the incident:

Standby referee Garrett Rank replaced Rooney, and will work the rest of the game.

Rooney is one of the longest-tenured referees in the NHL, having worked since 2002 and overseen over 1,500 games. Meanwhile, Rank has been an NHL referee since 2015.

Every NHL venue has a standby referee ready to go in the event of an injury to one of the on-ice officials