Brad Watson

Watson who was hired by the National Hockey League in the summer of 1993 under a minor league contract started his officiating journey at the age of 16 in small town rinks of Saskatchewan. His road to the NHL included stops in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), the Western Hockey League (WHL), the International Hockey League (IHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL). During his amateur journey, he was selected to work 2 Memorial Cups (1986 in Portland, OR as a linesman & 1992 in Seattle, WA as a referee), the 1989 World Junior Hockey Championship (Anchorage, AK), the 1991 Isvestia Cup in Russia representing Canada as a referee and the 1992 Spengler Cup (Davos, Switzerland). Before joining the National Hockey League under a minor league contract, Watson also spent 3 seasons in the defunct NHL trainee program traveling across North America working games in different professional and semi-professional hockey leagues. He would go on and work a total of 6 full seasons under contract before being promoted to a full-time NHL status in the summer of 1999. He made his NHL debut on March 7th, 1996 at the old Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh when the Ottawa Senators where in town to play the hometown Penguins.