Advertisement Dover native to officiate his 2,000th career NHL game on Saturday Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A New Hampshire man is about to hit a major milestone in his NHL officiating career, and he'll do it this weekend at the Boston Bruins game.Getting eight stitches was just another day at the office for Brian Murphy, who took a puck to the face a few nights ago in Anaheim."If you're going to get hurt or you're going to get sick, you want to do it at a pro sporting event because they've got the best doctors in the world there," Murphy said.The Dover native and University of New Hampshire graduate is a linesman for the National Hockey League.Murphy will officiate his 2,000th career game on Saturday at the T.D. Garden, becoming only the eighth person to ever do so."Somebody said to me the other day that 2,000 games means that I made a lot of mistakes and they're probably right," Murphy said.Murphy donated an entire case full of pucks to the Dover Ice Arena, where it all started for him.He was working eight-hour days driving the Zamboni. Once he realized that the referees were making more money than him in just two hours, he decided to give that a try.Fred Catalfo, Murphy's first hockey coach, said he's known Murphy since he was about 6 years old."I can't say enough about Brian. He's just a great guy. The fame never got to him," Catalfo said.The first game Murphy officiated was between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals in 1988.In the 31 years since then, he worked next to big names like Wayne Gretzky.He's officiated during nine Stanley Cup finals, including two Game 7s.Murphy officiates 75 games a year in the United States and Canada."I've got over 4,000 nights with this hotel chain. So when you think about it, I've spent over 11 years of my life in a hotel," he said.Murphy, who is retiring after next season, just got his master's degree in business administration.Whatever comes next, Murphy said it will be tough to top this weekend's achievement."I think Saturday is more for my wife Lisa and our two daughters, Casey and Shayna. I think it's a chance for them to reflect on things," he said.