Tim Peel has watched the replay and still can’t figure out how it happened, how a sequence he’s skated thousands of times during his 22 years as an NHL referee ended in a fractured ankle.



Making it even more painful for Peel is that it happened on the same day the league assigned him to the 2020 All-Star Game in his adopted hometown of St. Louis, a dream that’s been ruled out after surgery.



Peel will miss three to four months, and maybe the rest 2019-20 season, but because he had already agreed to work the 2020-21 season before retiring, this isn’t expected to be the end of his career.



“It’s frustrating because it’s the first time that I’ve ever been out with an injury,” Peel said. “I broke a few ribs probably six or seven years ago in L.A. Alec Martinez took a slap shot and broke a couple ribs, but I was able to work through that. I’ve had meniscus surgeries and things like that, but...