Greetings!
I am a level three CHA referee in the branch of HNO (Hockey Northwestern
Ontario) for 7 years now. Recently the OFSAA "AAA/AAAA" Boys
High School provincial championships were held in Fort Frances Ontario. I
was invited to do lines at the games over the course of three days. If we
were "good enough" we were asked to continue on into the quarter
finals.
I will tell you, it was a
long road to "get there". I have refereed hockey in the high
school league for 6 years. I have done lines, refereed numerous league and
playoff games. I have done lines for our Junior "A" SIJHL league
for about four years. I have even did the lines for an AHL Intrasquad game
for the Manitoba Moose. That was awesome!
My story is this…..We have
8 home games with our local high school boys team here where I live. Only
a few of us have been assigned to do games. Not because we cannot do the
games, the assigner puts himself on almost all of the games giving no one
else a chance. Political at best. There are at least 3 more level 3's that
are able to do the hockey. So one of the more vocal referees' voiced his
concerns to whoever would listen. It finally paid off. I was assigned to
do 2 regular season games this year wearing the bands. The first game was
the season opener, and I also did the season closer on the heels of a
difficult game the last referee had(which happens to be the assigner). I
was noticed while reffing that game, and was recommended by the league to
do the playoffs wearing the "bands". I was so excited after
working so hard through the minor hockey system to finally get a chance to
be involved in the playoffs. The assigner could no longer deny I was able
to work these games after he was told by the league to use me in the
playoffs. It was a three game series, game 1 the assigner took himself,
and I was assigned to referee game 2. The third if necessary the assigner
was going to do. Game one the assigner had called 245 minutes in penalties
against one team and 95 against the other, 6 players from each team
suspended for the first ten minutes of game 2, 1 player from each team
suspended 2 games for a post game altercation. As one could imagine game 2
was shaping up to be a "barn burner". I was the game 2 referee.
Game 2 was one of the best games I have been involved with. Hard hitting,
fast paced, back and forth, which was compared to a "AAA" Midget
game. I called 6 penalties against one team and 7 on the other. No
problems with anyone. From my perspective it was a great game. I went home
after (I had to travel 1 1/2 hours) and was so pumped I could hardly sleep
that night. Next day I get a call from the assigner, I am expecting to be
asked to lines the last game. He says to me…The league does not want me
to ref, they want you to do the Championship game. I felt bad for the guy
being told they did not want him, but I was so excited and honored to do
the final, again I couldn't sleep! All my hard work was finally paying
off! Game three was another great game, called a total of 7 penalties
between the both teams with winner going on to the OFSAA tournament in
Fort Frances. After the game I was congratulated on the game by the
league, coaches from both squads, and players. I felt so good it was
awesome! When I was invited to OFSAA to do the lines, I was given another
surprise when I got to the tournament. I was asked to referee one of the
round robin games between Mount Carmel and Regioplois-Notre Dame. Things
were good, I had a great game again, in fact all my games were great! I
had so much fun. I went with a great attitude and it pays off huge
dividends. At the end of the day, if you work hard and have a great
attitude you will be rewarded!
Best Regards,
Kelly Melanson
