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September 19, 2020 GREETINGS FROM HERMAN COSTA
Hello Everyone: I hope everyone has had a safe and quiet summer. With Hockey Canada announcing that all sanctioned hockey in the country was to end on Friday March 13 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, things came to a quick end. It has been an interesting 7 months since then and I am sure we are all anxiously awaiting news as to what will happen this fall and when will hockey start again. Hockey Alberta has released a return to Hockey document with some important information for the upcoming season. Here is link to the return to hockey plan on the Hockey Alberta website. https://www.hockeyalberta.ca/members/return-hockey/ Clinics have started for the level 3-6 officials and we plan on offering 5 or 6 clinics of these clinics so we can have all level 3-6 officials registered before Oct. 5th. We will be holding the clinics virtually using the program zoom. We are planning to host Level 1 and 2 clinics after the Thanksgiving Day weekend. We are hoping that we can host in person clinics, but I realize that we may have to change things to make it work due to Alberta health services, Jurisdictions and any facilities rules and regulations. All officials will have to complete a clinic before they can officiate Hockey Alberta sanctioned games this season. In addition, all Officials will be required and encouraged to complete the Hockey Canada – Hockey University Planning a Safe Return to Hockey online module immediately. This module is free and accessed under your eHockey account that you use to register for an officiating clinic. As we receive more information, we will post it to the website. https://officials.hockeyalberta.ca/officials-regions/north-region/ We had to cancel our annual general meeting and awards presentation as well as the north region golf tournament due to the pandemic. We are planning to have our awards presentation at the first general meeting in October so I hope everyone can attend. Please check on the website for the date, with Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings and with physical distancing, we may have to postpone the meeting to a later date. I would like to thank all the Volunteers that helped the officiating program this past season, (Supervisors, RIC’s, Assignors, Coordinators etc.) I would also like to thank the North Region Executive for all their help, dedication, hard work and commitment to the North region officiating program.
I hope everyone has a great season and hopefully we will be back on the ice soon.
Thank you and Stay Safe Herman Costa North Region Coordinator
NORTH REGION AWARD WINNERS Duncan McDougall Award For outstanding service and commitment to the North Region Referee Committee and is least recognized. Steffen Shaigec: Steffen is currently a level 3 official in the North Region who works as a Junior B/Midget AAA referee including at last year’s Mac’s tournament in Calgary. He has worked many games in provincial tournaments and attended the AJHL Elite camp in Red Deer in 2018 and Development camp in 2019. He is currently the Senior assignor for Bantam AAA and Bantam Prep. He was also the co-winner of the Colin Hackett Scholarship in 2020. He is in his final year at McEwan working towards a Bachelor of Science Degree. Chairman’s Award For dedication and commitment to minor hockey in the North Region Bob Broomhall: I coached my son and daughter in Hockey and Ringette for many years, and then was the Director for Midget and Junior C hockey for Calgary NEZ for a few more. In 1984, I took on a job that involved a lot of travel such that I could no longer make a commitment to coaching. Wanting to stay connected to the game, in 1985 while living in Calgary I went to the dark side and took a referee clinic and went on to register and referee in Calgary for one year. In 1986 I moved to Edmonton. Living in the west-end, I contacted Duncan MacDougall and started to referee for the Edmonton NWZ. At some point, I also landed up on the KC list. I officiated in Edmonton at the Novice Atom levels at first and then to Peewee and Bantam. I officiated here for four years. In 1990 I was transferred to Ottawa. While in Ottawa, I progressed to working House League Bantam Midget and Junior C for Kanata Minor Hockey and Bantam AA and Midget AA for Ottawa and District Minor Hockey (ODMHA). It was at this time that I attained my level 3 certification which I still maintain. In 1994 I moved back to Edmonton. I made the decision at that time that I would not take a spot away from younger officials and no longer work in the “A-program”. I once again contacted Duncan MacDougall and right away started working Bantam and Midget in the EFCL mainly as a caller, and some Junior C as a linesman. Upon my retirement in early 2006, things started to heat up. · In the fall of 2006, I took on the job of assigning officials for Peewee and Bantam for NWZ. · Also, in 2006, I took on the job of co-ordinating the supervision program for NWZ. · The next year 2007, the EFHL decided to go to the RAMP Assigning system. With my computer background, I was asked to become one of the system administrators. · In 2008 I became a clinic instructor. · In 2014 I took on the job of managing the clinic kits and clinic supplies. Mike Bugaida Award To a female for outstanding dedication to the North Region Carmen Boccanfuso: Carmen has been officiating in Alberta for 6 years working CIS and Midget AAA as a referee but her favorite level to officiate is Atom. She has been on the ice with Canadian Olympic team as well. She spends a lot of time doing off ice training to increase her strength, speed and endurance. She is a high school teacher, so she gets to ref some of her students which is fun too. George McCorry Award For dedication to the North Region Senior Program Colin Watt: Colin started officiating in the 2000/01 season, and immediately fell in love with it. After several years of officiating as many games as he possibly could, Colin achieved his Level 6 certification in 2012 and has been fortunate enough to have worked 6 national championship tournaments at various levels, as well as to have refereed in the WHL for 10 seasons. Off the ice, Colin has been a member of the North Region executive for over 10 years, sitting on various committees in that time. In addition to his Vice Chairman role within the North Region, Colin has also been the the Provincial Male Development Coordinator for the past 2 seasons. He has previously been chosen as the winner of the Duncan MacDougall award, the Ron Panchyshyn award, and the Chairman’s award within the North Region. Ron Panchyshyn Award For Outstanding dedication to the North Region Referee Committee: Chris Rebus: Chris started officiating in 2006 following in his father’s footsteps and joined the North Region Executive in 2013 as a director. He has held many different roles since then including Supervisions, Rural Development and Treasurer. Most recently he has become the Minor Committee Chair for the North Region. Chris is also an instructor with Hockey Alberta working with not only the beginner officials but also the senior officials to make us all better in our craft. Chris is currently a Level 5 official and works U Sport, ACAC and the AJHL. Supervision Award For outstanding service to the North Region Supervision Program Shelley Knowlton: Shelley started officiating way back in 1997. She made the leap to becoming an official after spending, what she believed to be, way too much time in the penalty box for “unjust” calls while playing Tier 1 Ladies hockey after making the switch from the male to female game. Since then, she has been lucky enough to officiate in St. Albert which gave her access to every level from Novice to Junior B on the male side and in Edmonton (senior female). She is a level 4 and still skates in the female program, which includes Canada West and ACAC in Edmonton and Calgary, on a regular basis. She has been lucky enough to work several Team Canada and CWHL games (one in Shenzhen, China in the 18/19 season). She has three children, Kylee (18), Chiara (17), and Nash (15), who are products of their environment and have been officiating for a few years now. She was lucky enough to receive plenty of supervisions over the years which made her the official she is today. That process is not lost on her, so she tries to do at least 20 supervision each season. She feels extremely fortunate to be a small part of a great organization within the officiating community in St. Albert. Great leaders create a positive culture and in turn, a willingness from those involved to step up and give back. She has been privileged to learn with the likes of Joe Becigneul, Arron Best, Dean Ziegler, Derek Herman, Karen Kost, Lacey Senuk (and others) who’s desired to build something better was infectious. Mentorships and Supervisions are the most effective tool we have, to assist officials in their development no matter what level of hockey they skate. The gift of time goes a long way! She loves being a part of the officiating community and assisting in creating the next generation of great officials in the North Region. Hockey Alberta Award For Dedication to the North Region Taylor Burzminski: Taylor has been an official for 12 years and is an original SAMHA official and is still involved with the development of St Albert officials. Currently he is a level 5 official refereeing in the WHL, USPORT, AJHL and ACAC. He is currently the Midget AAA Liason and Male Development Coordinator for the North Region. Hockey Alberta Award For Dedication to the North Region Chris Despot: Chris has been an official for 26 years with the last 4 in the North Region. He was the President of the Grande Prairie Referee Association for 4 years and sat on the Peace Zone’s Executive for 15 years. He moved to Edmonton in 2016 and immediately sat on the North Region Executive that year as the Lead Supervision Co-ordinator and held that position for 2 years. This past season he moved into the role of Awards/Rewards and Scholarships. Chris is still active on the ice working as a linesman in Junior B, ACAC Female and CIS Female and also helping out wherever he can in the minor program. He won this award for the Peace Zone in 2012 as well. Hockey Alberta Award For Dedication to the North Region Deion Foster: Deion has been a part of the North Zone for the past 8 seasons. He moved to Edmonton in 2012 from Lloydminster where he had started his officiating career in 2007. Since moving to the North Zone, Deion has continually been involved in helping out. He started out with instructing clinics and working with the Female program as a senior assignor. He has also been the MAAA liaison for 2 seasons. Currently, he is the referee assignor for the Senior Program. On a provincial level, he has helped as an instructor with the Hockey Alberta Officials Development Camp for the past 3 summers. On the ice, Deion currently works as a linesman in the WHL, U-SPORTS, AJHL, Senior AAA and a referee in Jr. B. He has been in the WHL for the past 5 seasons and worked the League Finals in 2019. He was also selected to work the USPORTS Nationals in Lethbridge and the National Jr. A Championship in Brooks in 2019. TRAVIS TOOMEY: STORIES FROM HIS FIRST YEAR IN THE SHOW I hope this finds everybody and their families healthy and doing well. I was asked to share a little bit about my first NHL season. There are so many things to share, these are a few highlights.
First, my time officiating in the North Zone was so important for me to learn and develop as an official. In particular, James Sharun in Leduc provided me the opportunity to start working games, and guided me as I started to move up. I really appreciate what he and so many others were able to do for me. If there is something I could pass on from my experience it’s that every game is an opportunity to improve, as well as to learn something, regardless what the level is. Whenever I had a supervision it was an exciting opportunity to hear feedback from someone who has a different viewpoint on the game, and I always appreciated what a supervisor had to offer. It is also so very valuable to learn from the people you are working with. The best development opportunities I had came from talking about the game and different situations with my partner and that nights crew. I feel I learned something from every game I worked, and from everyone that I worked with. It is something that definitely has continued at the NHL level. Many conversations before and after the game are centred around past situations and games, and everyone is constantly wanting to learn and improve.
Overall I can’t thank everyone in the North Zone enough for what they did to help me, as without them I wouldn’t be fortunate enough to be where I am today.
Here are some of my favourite moments from the 2019/2020 season. First NHL game: My first game came unexpectedly early in the season. When assignments first came out I was scheduled to work my first NHL game on October 20th in Winnipeg. This seemed great as it was going to be an easy trip for my family to make and attend the game. As it turned out, due to an injury on staff, my first game was on October 3 - Arizona at Anaheim for the Ducks home opener. A moment and game that I’ll obviously never forget. The quirky part to this was as desirable as Southern California is, the late change to the assignment prevented anyone from being able to make the trip to watch the game. My family still kept their travel plans to Winnipeg and we celebrated there as planed, just ended up being for my fifth game instead of the first. Best goals: There is definitely no shortage of great plays every game in today’s NHL. Being on the ice with the best players in the world is special every night. Two goals from games I worked in 2019/20 stand out in my mind. October 31, Calgary at Nashville - after tying the game late to send it to overtime, Matthew Tkatchuk scored the winner with only a second left on the clock, shooting it between his legs.
January 6, Edmonton at Toronto - I’m sure everyone has seen McDavid’s goal from that night, not just from games I worked, it’s obviously one of the best highlights of the year.
Battle of Alberta: January 11, Edmonton at Calgary. Again, I’m sure everyone has seen the highlights from this game, so no explanation necessary. Right from puck drop one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever seen, and the energy in the building kept growing as the night went on. Working a battle of Alberta on a Saturday night was special, and it was definitely a game to remember as it re-sparked a great rivalry. Sedin Jersey Retirement: Just as all of you, I’ve always been a fan of the game. Being in Vancouver the night the careers of Daniel and Henrik Sedin were celebrated was definitely special. I was in Chicago on March 11th when we shut down due to COVID-19, which turned out to be my last game of the season. Overall I was fortunate to skate in 28 of 31 buildings in the league, and work alongside a great staff of officials who were all welcoming and high quality people. Now, most importantly I hope everyone and their families are safe and healthy. I’m looking forward to watching playoff hockey, and hopefully we will all be back on the ice again soon for the 2020/21 hockey season. All the best, Travis Toomey QUESTIONS? If you have any officiating related questions, the best place to start is the Hockey Alberta Officials Website. The website includes general information of importance to all officials, as well as a section with information specific to the North Region. You can access the Officials website at the link below, or through the Officials tab at hockeyalberta.ca. If you have a question for the North Region executive, click the link below to go to the Executive List: |
