Marcus Vinnerborg - Officiating Career

Officiating Career

Vinnerborg played hockey for IF Troja/Ljungby, and in 1986 he represented Småland in TV-pucken. He began his officiating career at minor hockey-level in 1987 after having quit playing ice hockey. He was a linesman at Allsvenskan-level for several year before he decided to take the referee education, in 2000 he became a referee in Elitserien.

In 2006 Vinnerborg officiated at the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Vancouver, Canada, where he was selected as the referee for the bronze medal game between Finland and USA. He was then selected to officiate at the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships in Riga, Latvia, where he officiated until the semifinals started.

Vinnerborg and Thomas Andersson became Elitserien's first professional referees prior to the 2006–07 season. He was again selected to go the World Championship in 2007, and he was selected to officiate the final between Canada and Finland.

Vinnerborg together with Brent Reiber officiated the 2008 IIHF European Champions Cup final between HC Sparta Prague and Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the tournament was one of three trials of the four-man official system which later was introduced at the Ice Hockey World Championships. Vinnerborg was awarded Guldpipan as Elitserien's premier referee during the 2007–08 season, as voted by the player. After receiving the award prior to game three of the 2008 Swedish Championship final between Linköping HC and HV71, Vinnerborg faced controversy after making a critical error when not awarding a penalty to Linköping HC, after HV71's defenceman Johan Åkerman had intentionally shot a broken stick at the puck while being shorthanded. Linköping lost the game and Vinnerborg was not chosen to officiate the next game, Linköping's coach Janne Karlsson criticised the league since the four-man official system was not in use during the finals. For the third consecutive year Vinnerborg was selected to officiate at the World Championship, in 2008 held in Canada on NHL-sized rinks. Vinnerborg and fellow Swede Christer Lärking were selected to officiate the gold medal game between Russia and Canada, making it Vinnerborg's second consecutive final appearance. They stood for a controversial but correct puck out penalty on Canada's Rick Nash in overtime, which lead to Ilya Kovalchuk scoring the championship winning goal on the man advantage that followed.

Vinnerborg suffered an injury to his neck and head after a collision with HV71's Mattias Tedenby during a pre-season game in 2008, which lead to him missing the start of the 2008–09 season. On 30 September 2008, during a game between hosts SC Bern and the New York Rangers, Vinnerborg and Don Koharski became the first tandem of National Hockey League (NHL) and IIHF referees in an international event.

In May 2010, the NHL announced that Vinnerborg would be joining the NHL's officiating staff for the 2010–11 season, as the first European-trained NHL official. He will primarily be assigned to games in the American Hockey League (AHL) with some work at the NHL level. "His knowledge of the North American game and his work ethic and professionalism will make him a positive addition to the NHL staff," said league director of officials Terry Gregson. He worked his first game in the NHL on November 16, 2010, a 2–1 win for the Dallas Stars over the visiting Anaheim Ducks.