NHL Referee Retires Early After Season-Ending Injury

Pollock left his last game, a contest between the Ducks and Sabres, early after he was taken out by Sabres forward Jordan Greenway. The play was an accident on Greenway's part and there was certainly no ill-intention there. Unfortunately, there just is no where for the refs to go sometimes and Pollock got his legs taken out from underneath him.

The play did not look good initially and today the worst was confirmed. The injury to the veteran referee proved to be career-ending as Pollock will not return to officiate another game this season.

Pollock was a regular part of the NHL's playoff team meaning he will have to be replaced this time around. The veteran officiated more than 200 NHL playoff games and more than 1800 career games total. That being said, he was not going to officiate in the playoffs this year anyways, as the NHL has a rule that states officials must retire before the playoffs.

Pollock's presence will be missed, although many fans won't be sad to see him leave the league. After all, being a referee is a thankless job and the refs often take a lot of abuse from fans both online and at the rink.

As seen on NHL official suffers season-ending injury weeks before retirement