GREETINGS FROM HERMAN COSTA - North Region Chairman
Hello everyone:
I would like to welcome all new and returning officials to the 2022/23 Officiating season. With the
season well under way, we have seen a lot of changes in the program and a lot of information that
needed to be relayed to all officials. I would like to thank the north region executive members and all
the RIC’s for all the hard work at the beginning of the season. All your help and dedication to the
officiating program helps keep things going smoothly. The clinic season is now completed and we
managed to register 1750 officials in the north region. Thanks to Dean Ziegler and the Instructors for
all the hard work this past clinic season.
We held out first general meeting on Nov. 21 and we will be holding our 2nd general meeting on
Monday Jan 23. We hope we can get more officials to attend the next meeting as its always nice to
get reacquainted with those that we haven’t seen in a long time. We are once again planning to have
our annual general meeting and awards presentation in April 2023 (exact date to be announced). We
hope all officials will be able to attend and support our award winners. The best way to keep up to
date about what’s happening in the officiating program is to keep checking the website, we will post
any new information here.
Congratulations to Taylor Burzminski for being selected to officiate at the World Junior A Challenge in
Cornwall Ontario.
Congratulations to Alex Homer, Brody McGrath and Hayley Butz and Kennedy Roblin for being selected to officiate at the
Canada Winter games on Prince Edward Island February 18 th to March 5 th, 2023.
Congratulations to the following officials for being selected to officiate at the Circle K Classic
Tournament in Calgary on Dec 27 to Jan 1. Jared Gilbeau, Keaton Spirig, Brennen Jasonson, Mark
Claffey, Travis Stewart, Grayson Pollok, Aiden Schlesinger, Anthony Beaulieu, Kennedy Roblin, Conor
Filipchuk and Breylan Ottenbriet.
I’d like to wish all officials and their families a happy holiday season and a great new year.
Herman Costa
North Region Coordinator
Hockey Alberta Official’s Committee Scholarship
Value
Annually – Maximum of three (3) awards of up to $1,500.
Scholarships are presented to applicants who meet the following criteria:
· A member in good standing with Hockey Alberta in the current season with a minimum of Level 2 certification.
· A resident of Alberta for at least 2 years.
· 18 years of age by December 15 of the season s/he is applying for scholarship.
· An active official, working games at any level.
· Attending a post-secondary institution in a recognized program on a full time basis, including a recognized trade school program. Transcript of class enrolment is required.
· Other criteria will include, but is not limited to, the applicant’s on-ice ability and off-ice contribution to his/her Region.
Deadline
Application deadline is April 1 of each year.
Applicant could be applying for the year just being completed in order to qualify.
Colin Hackett Award - Application
Value:
Annually – Maximum of one award up to $1,000.
SELECTION CRITERIA
The successful applicant must meet all of the following criteria:
· A member in good standing with the North Region and at a minimum a Level 2 official.
· Resident of the Region for the past season and the current season.
· 18 years of age by December 15 of the current season.
· Active official working games in the North Region.
· Attending a post secondary institution in a recognized program on a full time basis (min. of three classes per semester).
· Volunteer experience you have provided as a mentor/leader on and off the ice.
SCHOLARSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE
A scholarship committee will select the winner each year. The committee consists of two executive members and one member at large.
SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
The application period is January 1 to March 1 each year. Applications will not be considered received until all the required information has been received by the committee.
Here is a link to the application: Colin Hackett Scholarship application
Attention North Region RIC’s
If you are an RIC in the North Region and you think that one of your officials has gone over and above their duties and has done something within your area that you would like recognized with an reward, please feel free to reach out and send an email to [email protected] and nominate them! Tell me your name, the official’s name, your area and why you would like to nominate this official for a reward for their extra work. The official will receive some sort of SWAG sent right to their home. This can be done at any time during the 2022/23 hockey season. If you have any further questions or need any further information, please reach out to me!
Female Development Program
The female development program is off to a great start this year. We have 130 registered officials! We ran a supervision clinic at a Pandas game and had eight females show up - two of which were newer officials. They were able to sit in on the supervision and learn new things. The conversations during the game were great as well. It was obvious there was great learning happening. We have another session lined up for the January 14 game at 2:00PM at Clare Drake Arena!
We are also trying to plan a team building activity at the beginning of February that incorporates games, rule knowledge and fitness.
We met with our female senior committee and talked about ideas on jobs they might want. We have narrowed it down to supervising assigning, a mentorship program, fitness leads, power skating and social media.
We currently have an Instagram page that will be up and running in no time. If you are a female official and would like a central place to ask questions, see posts from around the region and to be involved with other officials, please follow us: @northregionfemale
We are looking forward to building a positive culture within the female program and establishing mentors that can start working with officials at the U9 level.
We have had some high profile selections so far this year:
Red Deer: December 3-5
Haley Brand
Cassidy Brand
Arctic Winter Games
Reagan Houweling
Michelle Gariepy
Haley Brand
Canada Winter Games
Hayley Butz
Kennedy Roblin
We are looking to get as many female officials as we can for the U18AAA showcase in Red Deer the weekend of February 4!
There will be great learning there as well as consistent supervision expectations that will be used at all levels.
Please reach out to Shelley Knowlton or Darby Readman at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Reagan Houweling - OPOE Experience
Hi, my name is Reagan Houweling. I am grateful to have attended the Officiating Performance of Excellence Regional Program in Surrey, BC. As a young female official, six years ago I could have never imagined experiencing such a well-organized development opportunity. Meeting other females around Western Canada and being able to relate with each other and share past experiences is something I will never get tired of. Competing with talented women and hearing such important feedback is detrimental to my growth as an official. I hope to experience more opportunities like OPOE. Thank you, Hockey Alberta, BC Hockey, and Hockey Canada, for this unreal opportunity.
Alex Homer and Brody McGrath - OPOE Experience
The week started out with an early morning flight on Sunday to Abbotsford, BC where we were joined by 3 other officials from Alberta (Ty Elliott (NCZ), Curtis Johanson (NCZ) and Logan Parsons (CZ)). After arriving in Abbotsford, we quickly met the other 11 officials who were arriving from across Western Canada. From there, we caught a ride to the arena in Chilliwack, where we jumped right into some classroom sessions with Dan Hanoomansingh, Kirk Wood (Hockey Canada), Kevin Muench (WHL), CJ Senkow (Hockey Alberta) and Brad Lazarowich (BCHL). The classroom sessions were followed by an on-ice skating session later that evening.
The next three days were busy, as we were officiating games in the BCHL Showcase, where we all officiated one game each day. Throughout the camp there were multiple classroom sessions, as well as both on-ice and off-ice fitness testing. The camp concluded with exit interviews followed by another early morning flight home on Thursday.
We both agree that one of the best parts of these types of camps is getting to meet new officials from the surrounding provinces, that share the same passion and commitment to officiating that we do.
Throughout the weekend, we received valuable feedback from the officiating coaches during our games, to not only help improve our games but it will also allow us to share this knowledge and experience to pass on to the younger officials in the North Region.
We were proud to represent Hockey Alberta and the North Region, and we are extremely grateful for having the opportunity to attend this camp. We both agree this experience would not be possible without all the guidance and support we were provided from our peers and mentors along the way.
Brody McGrath and Alex Homer
QUIKCARD EDMONTON MINOR HOCKEY WEEK 2023
The tournament began 59 years ago in 1964 in Edmonton. At that time almost all community
minor hockey in Edmonton was played on outdoor ice and teams in Edmonton only played other
teams in their own organization. The organizations were North West Zone, North East Zone,
South West Zone, South East Zone and Knights of Columbus. The premise for the original
Minor Hockey Week was to permit teams to play teams from outside their organization and
possibly be able to play a game on indoor ice in one of the three ice surfaces owned by the City
of Edmonton (Southside/George Hughes Arena, Coronation Arena and the Edmonton
Gardens). The finals were played in the Edmonton Gardens.
The format has remained unchanged with the tournament played over 10 days starting on a
Friday and ending on a Sunday in January. In the original tournament, all minor hockey teams
from Atom to Junior played in the tournament and included teams from the Athletic clubs as well
as the community teams. The tournament guaranteed all teams two games but after the
second game it is win or go home. Games are played using running or straight time and games
have a forty-five- or sixty-minute length. All games must have a winner making overtime a
definite possibility. The current overtime format is depleting players. The divisions in a category
were much fewer than today’s hockey. Because of the fewer divisions, for an Atom or Peewee
team to reach the final, they often would have to play everyday.
For many players the tournament remains the highlight of the hockey season. In 2003 the
Guinness Book of Records recognized the tournament as the world’s largest hockey
tournament. The tournament is entirely organized by volunteers, and this includes the referees
who volunteer their time as on-ice officials during the tournament. Over the years the
tournament has grown, and participation is now open to all teams in the Edmonton Federation
Hockey League. Hockey Edmonton anticipates about 10,00 players on more than 600 teams to
play in the 2023 tournament. Please consider being part of the tournament as a volunteer
official. Say yes when you are offered an assignment.
U18AA
There are 4 locations for the U18AA playoffs: Edmonton, Leduc, Beaumont and Fort McMurray. U18AA will be adopting 4 on 4 for its overtime format in semi finals and finals games.
We’d like to acknowledge all local zones for their hard work in ensuring as many games as possible have 4-officials. The system has been met with overwhelming positive reviews.
We are supposed to be having all write ups for U18AA done on a form on the website which is still in development. For now, we still want all write ups submitted via email.
Male Development
Regional camps will be March 31 - April 2 in Calgary, Red Deer and Spruce Grove. Alberta Cup will be April 26-30 in Red Deer. D-Camp will be early July (probably the 5-9). More info and the application form can be found here.
