NHL referee gets punched in face during Avalanche, Blackhawks brawl (VIDEO)

During Tuesday night’s matchup between the Avalanche and the Blackhawks, NHL official Andy McElman was punched in the face. Check it out:

The Avalanche beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks 4-2 at the United Center. The beef started when Chicago's Michal Rozsival cross-checked Colorado's Maxime Talbot in the back after the whistle.

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The two grabbed each other and immediately started pushing and shoving. McElman came in to play peacemaker, but instead got knocked in the face by Rozsival. As you can clearly see, the linesman falls down and NFL are wishing this would happen in football on occasion.

Somehow, because this is hockey, no penalties were handed out for knocking down a referee.

What would happen if an NFL player actually punched a referee? Hit me up on Twitter @briansflood