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Referee forced out of Game 7 in Toronto after taking stick to face

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Referee Chris Rooney, widely considered to be one of the top officials in the NHL, was bloodied and had to leave Game 7 of the Florida-Toronto playoff matchup Sunday night after taking an inadvertent stick above one of his eyes.

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The play happened 13 seconds into the second period, when Florida’s Niko Mikkola was jousting for the puck and his stick went into Rooney’s face.

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The game was stopped for several minutes and a stretcher was brought onto the ice, but Rooney skated off with some assistance and with a towel covering much of his face as he was brought to the locker-room area for further evaluation and treatment.

Rooney got stitches and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.

The NHL has stand-by officials at playoff games and Garrett Rank took over as one of the two referees following Rooney’s injury, joining a crew that also included referee Jean Hebert and linesmen Devin Berg and Jonny Murray.

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