You may think that only hockey players attend
schools and camps during the summer months to improve their hockey
skills but this is not true.
The boys and girls wearing the striped shirts also hone up
on their skills during the summer months. Mike Marley, Head of
Officials for the Greater Toronto Hockey League, is shown in the
centre of this photo.
The Canadian School of Hockey Officiating is hosted by the
Greater Toronto Hockey League and is a school specifically designed for
the on ice officials that you see enforcing the rules each and every game
throughout the winter months. Not
only is this a great officiating school but it also has the best of the
best teaching these officials.
NHL referee, Greg
Kimmerly; NHL linesman, Angelo
D’Amico; and NHL referee, Dean Warren are all seen here on the
ice waiting for their opportunity to provide some advice and
instruction to the new officials as these officials receive
instructions from the GTHL Director of Officials,
The school has modified its curriculum to allow
beginners (Quick Start Program), officials with limited experience (Junior
Development Program), adult officials with advanced experience and skills
(Best Ever Program) and for officials that currently have their CHOP level
3 or 4 (Senior Development Program) to participate.
The school consists of on-ice training sessions where
the officials are required to go through skating, signaling and
positioning drills. There are
also off ice class room sessions where the officials learn about
procedures, rules and game management subjects and then every night the
officials go on the ice in an actual game situation where they are
supervised and video taped so that they can improve on their officiating
skills.
(skating
and signaling drill)
This years camp was held at the Ice Gardens on the
York University Campus in Toronto and the enrollment is the highest that
it has ever been with 100 officials participating.
Seven of these officials are women and 41 of these officials have
never worn the striped jersey before and are looking forward to a great
experience as a hockey official. The
officials are housed in the York University Residence facilities and are
fed breakfast, lunch, supper and a late night snack at the Blade
Restaurant in the Ice Gardens.
 |
James Paltser, who is one of these brand new hockey
officials, had a few spare moments between classes to provide the
GTHL Hockey News with an interview. |
James is currently a player with the Hillcrest
Summits Midget ‘A’ team of the GTHL and has been playing hockey his
whole life. He is 15 years
old and has decided to put on the striped jersey for the following season
as both he and his family feel that it would be a great part-time job for
James to have as he can officiate on days that he is not playing hockey.
James loves the game and he wants to be involved with hockey in
future years when he is not playing hockey and becoming a hockey
officiating is a perfect alternate route to stay involved in the game he
loves. When asked how
he will handle the verbal abuse from parents, coaches and players he
stated that “I’ve been involved in hockey my whole life and I have
heard almost everything that can possibly come out of a fans mouth whether
it be from my team or the opposition, so I think I will be able to handle
the pressure and abuse.” This
is one of the best quotes I have ever heard coming from a player and
hopefully for James and all of those other new officials the abuse is
minimal.
 |
Even though the school is hosted by the Greater
Toronto Hockey League, it still manages to have an international
flavour every year. This
year there is an official that came all the way from Italy to
strengthen her officiating skills.
Helga Tschoerner is participating in the Junior Development
Program at the school and is looking forward to the advice and
suggestions of the instructors and NHL Officials. |
She has also arranged for Bob Nadin, the Canadian
International Ice Hockey Federation Referee Representative, to stop by the
camp to talk to her about officiating in International Tournaments. Over in Italy, Helga can officiate in every hockey level
except for the Men’s division I and II hockey leagues but she is hoping
that this school will allow her to improve and crack into those leagues in
the next couple of years.
The Greater Toronto Hockey League is doing its part
to ensure that in the years to come, hockey still has qualified officials
on the ice enforcing the rules and keeping your children safe!
You can find more information at www.refschool.com
