NHL hires ECHL officials Lambert, MacDougall, Daisy and Nagy

The ECHL announced on Thursday that the National Hockey League has hired former ECHL referees Pierre Lambert and Peter MacDougall as well as linesmen Ryan Daisy and Kory Nagy for the 2016-17 season.

Lambert was a full-time ECHL referee in the last three seasons, and was selected to work each of the last three Kelly Cup Finals. In addition to his time in the ECHL, he has worked in the American Hockey League over the last two seasons. Prior to joining the ECHL, Lambert was a referee in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

MacDougall worked in the ECHL for the previous three seasons, and worked his first Kelly Cup Finals in 2016. Prior to becoming a full-time official, MacDougall played two seasons of professional hockey with the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Southern Professional Hockey League following a four-year career at Canisius College.

Daisy served as an ECHL linesman for the last four years and worked the Kelly Cup Finals for three straight seasons from 2013-15. Last season, he was selected to work the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Finals for the first time. Daisy also served as a linesman for the 2013 CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game.

Nagy completed his first season as an ECHL linesman in 2015-16 after playing parts of four seasons in the league with Trenton and Orlando from 2009-14. He also played in the AHL with Lowell, Albany, Adirondack and Toronto over that time.

“The ECHL is very pleased for all four officials being hiring by the NHL,” said ECHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Joe Ernst. “Each of them has taken a different path to getting to where they are now, and we hope that we can one day see them working games in the NHL along with all of our other former officials that are on the NHL staff.

“The ECHL Officiating Development Coaches and myself take a lot of pride in working with and developing our officials, and this is a testament to all the hard work that we  put in to make these officials better with each game.”

In addition to Lambert, MacDougall, Daisy and Nagy, there are 28 former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL officiating team in 2016-17 with referees referees Jake Brenk, Francis Charron, Tom Chmielewski, Ghislain Hebert, Jean Hebert, Marc Joannette, Trent Knorr, Mike Leggo, Dave Lewis, T.J. Luxmore, Wes McCauley, Jon McIsaac, Dean Morton, Dan O’Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Graham Skilliter, Justin St. Pierre and Ian Walsh, and linesmen Steve Barton, Brandon Gawryletz, Matt MacPherson, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak, Bryan Pancich and Jay Sharrers.

About the ECHL

Began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 27 teams in 21 states and one Canadian province for its 29th season in 2016-17. There have been  who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 30 who made their NHL debuts in the 2015-16 season. The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 NHL teams in 2016-17, marking the 20th consecutive season that the league had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter.