Referee Chris Rooney suffered a serious cut on his face when he was hit by an errant stick during Game 7 of the Florida Panthers-Toronto Maple Leafs series on Sunday night. Rooney was in the corner next to Niko Mikkola's stick hit him in the face as he moved the puck along the boards early in the second period.

Rooney immediately covered his face and went to the ice. He was attended to by the medical team before he was able to skate off the ice on his own holding a towel over the cut. Once the blood was cleaned off the ice and Garrett Rank came out of the dressing room to replace Rooney, the game continued.

Here's video:

Rooney has been working with the NHL since the 1990s and has refereed over 1,400 regular season games in his career.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NHL Referee Suffers Bloody Cut to Face During Game 7 of Panthers-Leafs Series.

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