Hockey Referee School Teaches Officials Rules Of The Game
Posted August 16, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The first wobbly, Bambi-like strides on a homemade backyard rink are often the first steps towards illustrious N.H.L. careers for young hockey players. The same could be said for referees, who must exhibit prodigious skills of their own in order to keep up with the blazing pace of the modern game. But while hockey players further learn their trade in the Jr. and minor league ranks, it’s not so clear where exactly aspiring refs and linesmen go to hone their skills.
For many the first step takes place at York University, where a beginner’s clinic took place on Wednesday.
“What we have on the ice now is the quick starts, they’re first-year officials, probably guys that have never officiated before and want to get into it, so we’re going to teach them the basics, everything they are going to do throughout the course of a game such as icings, off-sides, face-offs,” explained GTHL Referee Supervisor Carl Friday.
Caleigh Flagg is participating in the program with hopes of becoming the first female ref to skate with the behemoths of the N.H.L.
“I’ve always wanted to be a ref,” she explains. “I play travel hockey and ever since I was little, I’ve always…thought I’d always wanted to ref the N.H.L., be one of the first girls.”
Former N.H.L. referee Greg Kimmerly warned prospective zebras that the road to the big leagues could be a rocky one, complete with raging parents fuming over missed calls and coaches with throbbing veins on their foreheads focusing their rage on the man, or woman, in stripes.
“These people deal with sort of different environments than what we deal in,” he said. “You know, people are a little more respectful in our (N.H.L) environment, in the arenas that we work at. These officials when they leave the rink they have to walk right through the crowd, right through the parking lots so we’re trying to teach them respect, to give respect to the players, respect to the coaches.”
For retired police officer Bruce Kelly, respect is something he now believes referees more than deserve.
“I will probably, at any time when I’m playing hockey, never yell at a ref again in my life.”
