Steve Kozari (born June 20, 1973) is a

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

, who wears uniform number 40. He was born in 1973 in

Penticton Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration The ce ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Then graduated from Penticton High School in 1991. He has been a member of the NHL Officials Association since the

2003–04 NHL season The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series four games to three against the Calgary Flames. For the fourth time in ...

. He was one of the referees selected to officiate the

2014 Stanley Cup Finals The 2014 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) season, and the culmination of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. The League realigned its divisions prior to the season, and changed the structure of th ...

and the

2019 Stanley Cup Finals The 2019 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2018–19 season and the culmination of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference champion St. Louis Blues defeated the Eastern Confer ...

. Steve Kozari and

Kelly Sutherland Kelly Sutherland (born April 18, 1971, in Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia) is a National Hockey League official (ice hockey), referee who wears uniform number 11. Career Sutherland was one of the referees for the 2010 ...

were to officiate the game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals between the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

and the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

. However, due to controversy surrounding the officiating in game 5 of the same series, the NHL opted to name Gord Dwyer and Chris Rooney as the officials for game 7.

References

1973 births Ice hockey people from British Columbia Living people National Hockey League officials Canadian ice hockey officials Sportspeople from Penticton {{Canada-icehockey-bio-stub