All posts by LAHOA Webmaster

Saves The Date:
August 4-6 in El Segundo, California @ Toyota Sports Performance Center. The school is open to officials age 16 to 31 years old who are great skaters with an experience level of AAA to professional. Additionally, this years school will be limited to 30 officials.

Classroom sessions will include video sessions, psychology of the game, teamwork & communication. All classes will be held at the Toyota Sports Performance Center.

On-ice instruction will include: positioning, signals, skating drills, conducting face-offs, game situation participation.

Off-ice instructions includes how to prepare and warm up for a game, nutrition, as well as exercises specific to officiating ice hockey.

All ice sessions are supervised by staff from the NHL, AHL, Junior level and local USA Hockey supervisors.

The Sonesta Hotel is the official host hotel of the California Referee School and is walking distance to the Performance Center. Special rate for CA Ref School.

Please visit carefschool.com for registration information.

Michel Voyer
School Director

The LAHOA Board of Directors would like to congratulate Jacob Rozenberg who will be working his first United States Hockey League (USHL) game as a linesperson! Jake will get back from his winter break in Southern California, jump in the car and head to Des Moines. After a few games in Iowa, he will make his way up to Green Bay, WI then head back to Dallas, TX! Green Bay is one of the best cities to visit in the USHL. Congrats to Jake on his first few games and good luck!

LAHOA would like to congratulate Adam Bell on his retirement from professional hockey. Adam spent the last seven seasons working the AHL as a linesperson. Also leaving pro hockey, but moving to the NCHC (NCAA Division 1), is Andrew Wilk. Andrew spend the last 12 years working in the ECHL, AHL IIHF and the DEL in Germany. This year LAHOA returns 10 officials to pro hockey and four more officials join them full time. Those officials include: Ben Dubow (AHL), Tyler Hascall (ECHL), Phil Kasko (AHL) & John Lindner (ECHL). Good luck this season!

LAHOA would like to congratulate the following officials who will be working in USA Hockey’s Officiating Development Program! Good luck this season!

Each season, before the main training camps start in the NHL, groups of NHL teams will meet up and play a number of games against other teams. The players playing are typically the future players of that NHL club. LAHOA is proud to announce a number of officials who will be working those games! Congratulations to the following officials:

Prospects Tournament – Traverse City, MI – 9/15-9/19

• Tyler Hascall – Referee
• John Lindner – Referee

Rookie Face-off – San Jose, CA – 9/16-9/19

• Jordan Watt – Referee
• Benjamin Dubow – Linesperson
• Jarrett Townsend – Linesperson
• Eric Anderson – Linesman
• Jake Herzog (Arizona) – Linesperson
• Alex Ledovskiy (NORHOA) – Linesperson
• Tatu Kunto (SDHRA) – Referee
• Jackson Kozari (LVHOA) – Referee
• Michaela Ball (SDHRA) – Referee

The Los Angeles Hockey Officials Association Board of Directors concluded its annual meeting which begins the 31st season! The Board of Directors would like to thank Michel Voyer for his service on the board for the past 30 years. Michel won’t hold a seat anymore but he will still be leading the charge in developing our officials for the junior and pro ranks. 

In with the new! Congratulations to Jordan Watt who ran in this years election and won a board seat. He along with Brett Martin and Scott Workman will occupy board seats for the next three years. 

71% of the LAHOA members voted in this years election. Thanks in part to Ira Derdiger and Chuck Martin for making this possible! While 71% is a great number, Ira and Chuck look to build on. Be on the lookout for our ramped up election next year

Beginning this season, Executive board member positions are two year terms. The Board would like to thank Sara Parras for handling the duties of treasurer for the past two seasons. At this time The Board would like to introduce Matt Zucker as the new treasurer for the 22-23 & 23-24 seasons. The rest of the executive board remained the same. Their terms expire in 2024. 

During the annual meeting, President Louis Magnifico appointed Todd Siegal the Director or Development for LAHOA. Arthur Kitano also announced that Todd will be the Referee in Chief for the ADHSHL. Art will assume the role of ADHSHL Director of Officials. LAHOA would like to congratulate Todd on his new roles this season!

THE BEN ALLISON AWARD

In 2016, the Ben Allison Award was created to recognize deserving officials in the USA Hockey Officiating Development Program. The award is voted on by 150 members of the USA Hockey Officiating Development Program and is given to the official that best represents the characteristics that made Ben a special person and official, including always giving 100 percent on the ice and representing USA Hockey in the finest manner. The award will be presented on an annual basis. Allison was a level three USA Hockey certified official, who was tragically killed in January 2015 at the age of 20. A native of Royal Oak, Michigan and a student at Illinois State University, he had been officiating for eight years and was a part of the Officiating Development Program for three years at various levels, including the NAHL.

The NHL, AHL and ECHL will be starting their season’s this week. LAHOA would like to acknowledge it’s officials who are working professional hockey this season! Below, you will find the LAHOA officials who have been in hockey for multiple seasons. I would like to recognize Mike McBain and Steven Berry as our most veteran officials this season. This will be Mike’s 13th season and this will be the 17th season for Steven!

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS goes to our first year pro’s:

• Tyler Hascall – ECHL – Referee
• John Lindner – ECHL – Referee
• Phil Kasko – AHL Referee
• Jordan Watt – AHL – Referee
• Eric Anderson – AHL – Linesman
• Ben DuBow – AHL – Linesman
• Tatu Kunto (SDHRA) – AHL – Referee

Adam Bell

Linesman

AHL

7th Pro Season

Steven Berry

Linesman

AHL

17th Pro Season

Neil Campbell

Linesman

AHL

8th Pro Season

Niko Diehr

Linesman

AHL

7th Pro Season

Jacob Fraser

Linesman

AHL

7th Pro Season

Brett Martin

Linesman

AHL

11th Pro Season

Mike McBain

Linesman

AHL

13th Pro Season

Eric McDonald

Linesman

AHL

5th Pro Season

JM McNulty

Linesman

AHL

12th Pro Season

Tanner Nua

Linesman

AHL

8th Pro Season

Alec Rounds

Referee

AHL, ECHL

4th Pro Season

Steve Walsh

Linesman

AHL

11th Pro Season

Andrew Wilk

Referee

AHL, ECHL, DEL

10th Pro Season

Trevor Wohlford

Referee

ECHL

2nd Pro Season

The Jamie Huntley-Park Pacific District Women’s Officiating Camp was held in Portland, Oregon from September 23rd-26th. LAHOA officials Nichole Godwin, Rebecca McFarland, and Sara Parras were in attendance along with nine other women from Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Montana. Named for previous camp director Jamie Huntley-Park, a renowned figure in the hockey community who was tragically killed in a car accident on June 4th, the camp aims to train, promote, and empower women in officiating throughout the district and beyond. 

Traditionally four days of classroom, off-ice testing and workouts, on-ice testing and training, game simulations, and team building activities, this year’s gathering included a new and powerful addition: 2021 Camp Directors Kendall Hanley, Jackie Spresser, and Alisha Hanrahan shared personal stories about working with and knowing Huntley-Park. “It’s important to us that you know who she was so you can uphold her values and continue her legacy both on and off the ice,” said Spresser.  NHL referee Ian Walsh made a classroom appearance to share video clips and joined the participants on the ice for an afternoon of power skating. The attendees received on-ice shadowing, video feedback on in-game timing and positioning, and scores for IIHF skating and off-ice testing.

Congratulations to all the participants on a successful camp! 

The LAHOA Board of Directors is excited to announce that 7 officials will work the Arizona Rookie Face-off!

Referees:

• Andrew Wilk
• Alec Rounds
• Phil Kasko

Linesman:

• Neil Campbell
• Eric Anderson
• Benjamin Dubow

Tatu Kunto from SDHRA will also be joining the crew as a referee.

The Arizona Coyotes the 2021 “Rookie Face-off” tournament from September 17-20 at Gila River Arena and the Ice Den Scottsdale. The tournament will include four teams from the Pacific Division (Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and Vegas) and two from the Central Division (Arizona and Colorado).

The Rookie Face-off tournament, which features the top prospects from each club participating, was held in Las Vegas in 2018 and Irvine in 2019.

Streaming information can be found at arizonacoyotes.com/rookiefaceoff.

Friday, September 17, 2021

• 3:00 pm – Los Angeles at Colorado (Ice Den)
• 5:00 pm – San Jose at Anaheim (Ice Den)
• 7:30 pm – Vegas at Arizona (Gila River Arena)

Sunday, September 19, 2021

• 2:00 pm – Vegas at San Jose (Ice Den)
• 4:00 pm – Colorado at Anaheim (Ice Den)
• 6:30 pm – Los Angeles at Arizona (Gila River Arena)

Monday, September 20, 2021

• 9:00 am – San Jose at Colorado (Ice Den)
• 11:00 am – Los Angeles at Vegas (Ice Den)
• 12:00 pm – Anaheim at Arizona (Gila River Arena)