Of the 16 referees, five will officiate as a referee at this level for the first time, although two of them, Swiss officials Daniel Stricker and Tobias Wehrli, have previously officiated at IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships as linesmen.

Wehrli did the gold medal game of the 2010 Worlds as a linesman, and as a referee at the finals of the recent 2015 World Juniors in Canada and at last year’s U18 World Championship while Stricker called the gold medal game as a referee at the 2014 World Juniors.

Among the World Championship rookies is a local ref, Pavel Hodek. The most experienced referee will also coming from the host nation: Czech ref Vladimir Sindler has officiated in 11 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships and two Olympic Winter Games.

Sindler’s most famous moment came at the 2003 Worlds in Finland when he officiated the gold medal game. Anson Carter scored the overtime winner for Canada against Sweden although barely anybody was able to see whether the puck crossed the line or not. Sindler went to the off-ice officials’ bench calling for a video review and after five minutes and finding the right angle it was called a goal.

Other veterans include Vyacheslav Bulanov from Russia, who officiated in nine World Championships (eight as a referee) and two Olympics while and a trio who has done six Worlds before with Daniel Piechaczek from Germany, Jyri Ronn from Finland and Marcus Vinnerborg from Sweden. Vinnerborg, who became the first European NHL ref in 2010, called the gold medal games in 2007 and 2008, and most recently the gold medal game of the 2015 World Juniors, while Ronn worked the gold medal game in 2009.