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How to Become an Official |
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All officials
who work sanctioned games must register with the USA
Hockey Officiating Program. This involves the completion
of a simple registration form and the payment of a nominal
annual registration fee. After registering, the applicant
must pass an open-book rules exam that is designed to
cover the basic playing rules that are required at the
lower levels. New officials will also have to obtain a
black hockey helmet, official's sweater, black trousers
and a whistle.
The Officiating Program conducts over 400 pre-season
educational seminars for its officials during the fall
months. These full-day seminars are mandatory for all
officials registering with USA Hockey. The content
of these educational seminars ranges from on-ice skills to
rules interpretations to advanced theories of officiating.
As experience is gained, officials advance to higher level
seminars.
- Contact our
local USA Hockey Supervisor of
Officials for information you will need to
become a referee. The best time to
contact a supervisor is in July and August preceding the
hockey season. If you have not contacted a Supervisor for
information by November, it is probably too late to become
a referee for that season. You will have to try again
the following summer.
- Complete a USA Hockey Referee Application Form and
pay the appropriate fee directly to USA Hockey in
Colorado. You can obtain an application at a seminar (mentioned later),
or you can sign up at the
Officials section of the USAhockey.com website. Upon
receipt of your application and fee, USA Hockey will mail
you a rule book and an open book rules exam. You can also obtain
an online copy of the USA Hockey Ice Hockey Rulebook/Casebook
on the USA Hockey site.
Click here to download the latest USA Hockey Rules & Casebook .
- Take the open book rules exam. Be sure to look up
each rule in your rule book. This will help you not only
learn the rules, but also how to navigate the rulebook to
find what you need. Once you have completed the exam,
return the answer sheet directly to USA Hockey in Colorado.
You may be able to complete your exam directly on the USA
Hockey website and get your results immediately.
- Attend a
USA Hockey Officiating Seminar
anywhere in the country (you do not have to attend one
in your home area, but it would be better so you can get
to know other local officials). The seminar should include
a classroom portion as well as an on-ice session. You
should bring your rulebook and other applicable materials
if you have them along with a #2 pencil and notebook. You
will also need skates, a helmet and a whistle as a minimum for the
on-ice session. In order to receive credit for attending
the seminar, make sure that you have signed the official
attendance sheet at the end of the seminar. You will also recieve
more Officiating materials, such as the USA Hockey Basic Manual at
the seminar.
- Once you have passed the exam and attended a seminar,
you will receive your officiating crest and your referee
ID card. Place
the crest on your officiating sweater. You are now fully
registered with USA Hockey as an official
and you are covered fully by USA Hockey medical and
liability insurance (applicable if you are injured while
working a sanctioned USA Hockey game). You are now eligible
to officiate ice hockey games, and should contact
your local schedulers. See the tips on
getting games. Your registration is valid through
November 30 of the following year.
If you fail the open-book rules exam, you will be given
a second opportunity to pass the test. Complete the exam
more carefully and return your results to USA Hockey. You
are not fully registered or eligible to skate games until you
have passed the exam and receive your crest & card.
- Contact one of the USA Hockey
Supervisors and join WPHOA (see the link on the left for an
application). You will join as an apprentice member. A
supervisor will then come to watch you work one or more games
in order to evaluate your skill level. Once your officiating
skills have reached the proper level, you will be moved up
to fulll member status. As your officiating skills improve, you
should get higher level games.
NOTE - Local schedulers (including WPHOA) will not
come looking for you just because you have completed the
registration process with USA Hockey. You MUST contact
these schedulers in order to get games.
- Skate, Skate, Skate! Experience is the best teacher,
so the more games you work, the better your skills will be!
Keep working games and attending WPHOA meetings.
Further information can be found on the
Officials section of the USAhockey.com website. You can also see
the WPHOA page on getting games.
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