Category News

From LAHOA President, Louis Magnifico:

LAHOA hosted it’s annual board meeting Saturday, June 27th. First I want to tip my hat to all of you who took the time to have their voice heard in our election! We had 5 officials trying to secure one of the 4 board positions open. The results are: Andrew Wilk @ 24%, Michael Pecolar @ 23%, Art Kitano @ 22%, Sara Paras @ 21% and Zack Davis @ 10%.

I want to thank Skip Crovo for serving on the board for several terms! He was a very valuable board member and always put LAHOA first. I would also like to thank Zack Davis for stepping up to run for the board.

After the new board was seated the following board members were elected to the Executive Board:

President – Louis Magnifico

Vice President  – Brett Martin

Treasurer – Sara Paras

Registrar – Scott Workman

Secretary – Michael Pecolar

I would like to take a moment to thank Steve Appley for all his contributions as Vice President this past season, I can tell you without him I would have not had any chance of success. He was at every seminar including Cal Camp and Arthur Kitano’s High School/ACHA/Junior camp. He supervised at one rink for every CAHA weekend and ran the High School State Finals to highlight a few of the assignments and tireless hours he put in to our association for you the members. 

We are still in a time of flux and many things are still not stable but we must continue on and prepare for next season. What is in our control is how we each prepare for the season when it does start. We have the power to make this our best season ever regardless of when we start. 

The LAHOA Board of Directors would like to congratulate Matthew Norman And Jake Rozenberg on their selection to work the 2020 Pacific District Tier 1 Championships in Tacoma, WA! The tournament will take place March 5th – 8th at the Tacoma Twin Rinks and is hosted by the Tacoma Jr. Rockets. The age groups that are competing at the championships are 14u AAA, 15u AAA, 16u AAA & 18u AAA with the winner of each group moving on to the National Championships! LAHOA wishes Matt the best this weekend. If you see Matt or Jake around the rinks, make sure to congratulate them!

The LAHOA Board of Directors would like to congratulate Keely Peters, Rebecca McFarland, Nicole Godwin and LAHOA’s very hard working Treasurer, Sara Parras on their selections to officiate the Pacific District Girls Tier I & Tier II Championships in Seattle, WA. The event took place over the weekend from February 27th to March 1st. Proudly hosting the event was Seattle Junior Hockey and the Lady Admirals. The age groups present were, 14u, 16u & 19u. The winners of each age group advance to USA Hockey’s National Championships! Next time you see these ladies at the rink, give them a big congratulatory high five!!!

LAHOA would like to again congratulate Andrew Wilk on his 3rd IIHF assignment! Andrew was selected to referee the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championships Division II Group B that took place January 28th-February 3rd in Gangnueng/Pyeongchang, South Korea. The same venue that hosted the Olympics!

Andrew has previously officiated the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia and the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championships Division I Group A in Vienna, Austria.

The teams present for this years assignment are South Korea, Israel, Belgium, Croatia, Netherlands and China!

Andrew ultimately was selected to work the gold medal game between between South Korea and Croatia. South Korea won the game and was promoted to Division 2A while Israel was relegated to Division III. Also to note, former Los Angeles King, Jim Paek, is the head coach of South Korea!

A quote from Andrew, “[It is] always an extreme honor and privilege to be selected for a IIHF assignment.  I have a had a great time at every tournament meeting new friends, exploring different cultures and getting a break from the everyday grind of the long minor-pro season.”

Congratulations Wilky!

On Saturday, November 23rd at Great Park Ice & FIVEPoint Arena, LAHOA presented a donation to the American Cancer Society. Throughout the months of October and November, LAHOA officials donated game fees and wore custom referee and linesman sweaters while doing so. The games were primarily worked in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League (ADHSHL). The LAHOA officials donated a total of $4,485 in game fees and the Anaheim Ducks decided to match it! The total donation to the American Cancer Society on behalf of LAHOA was $8,970!

Click here to check out the full photo gallery

The LAHOA Board of Directors would like to announce its association wide support of Cancer Awareness during the months of October and November. LAHOA will be showings its support by wearing the universal color of lavender. During this time officials can wear lavender laces, tape, and any other lavender accessories to show their support of Cancer Awareness. LAHOA isn’t just flying colors, we are giving our officials the chance to donate their game fees in support of the cure to cancer. At the end of November, LAHOA will be taking those donated game fees and donating them all to The American Cancer Society.

The ADHSHL will be providing officials the chance to wear custom lavender stripped referee and linesman sweater during games in which the game fees are being donated. We are also going to be doing this with CAHA and SCAHA games. The first of which happened at Great Park Ice & FIVEPoint Arena on Wednesday, October 16th. Many more are planned and we ask that you call share your photos online as well as send them to the e-mail below so that they can be posted on the website as well as the LAHOA Facebook Group and Instagram page. After all, it is about creating awareness.

LAHOA Facebook Group | LAHOA Instagram

E-mail Webmaster Pictures!

PLEASE ask your scheduler how you can get on a crew and donate!

The Anaheim Ducks will host the six-team Rookie Face-off Tournament Sept. 7-10 at Great Park Ice & FIVEPoint Arena. The 2019 tournament will feature the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights.

LAHOA officials refereeing the event are Andrew Wilk and Tyler Hascall. On the lines are Neil Campbell, Alec Rounds, Steve Walsh, Eric MacDonald & Eric Anderson. Working along with our LAHOA officials are Matthew Audette, Carter Sandlak, Jack Young, Rake Recucki & Katie Guay. Read more about the 4 female officials selected to work NHL prospect tournaments this year.

Day passes for the tournament are SOLD OUT, but individual game tickets for all nine games in the tournament are currently available.Day Pass buyers will receive communication directly to fulfill the transaction. Individual game tickets are $10 per game and arking for the entire tournament will be complimentary.

Saturday, Sept. 7

• Colorado vs. Vegas – 1:00pm @ FivePoint Arena
• Arizona vs. San Jose – 3:00pm @ Rink 3
• LA vs. Anaheim – 5:00pm @ FivePoint Arena

Sunday, Sept. 8

• LA vs. Colorado – 1:00pm @ FivePoint Arena
• Vegas vs. Arizona – 3:00pm @ Rink 3
• San Jose vs. Anaheim – 5:00pm @ FivePoint Arena

Tuesday, Sept. 10

• Arizona vs. Colorado – 11:00am @ FivePoint Arena
• LA vs. San Jose – 1:00pm @ Rink 3
• Vegas vs. Anaheim – 3:00pm @ FivePoint Arena

**UPDATE** Cal Camp a HUGE success! Lot’s went on at the CA Ref School. There was a record amount of league supervisors in attendance. The camp director, Michel Voyer, celebrated his 31st year of running the school. The new Pacific District RIC, Dan Ellison, hosted the seminar held in conjunction with the school. We congratulated Steve Stevens on his retirement. AND… USA Hockey Officiating Director, Dave Labuda, was in town!

**From the initial post.***

Save the date! California Referee School 2019 will be held August 2-4 at The Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, CA. The official training facility of the two-time Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings. This year California Referee School will be celebrating its 31st anniversary! As always, the California Referee School will have the top instructors and supervisors in attendance to help educate and scout officials. The school is open to all levels of officiating. From beginner to advanced, California Referee School is for everyone! Click the link below and to enroll and reserve your spot today! 

California Referee School

2017 Cal Camp Video

The LAHOA Executive Board and the Board of Directors would like to congratulate Mike McBain and Jake Ryono on being selected to work the 2019 Thorne Cup Finals. The event will take place April 9-13 in Ogden, UT. The finals will be played tournament style starting with six teams in two pools of three. The top two teams from each pool will play in the semi finals, followed by the winners playing for the Thorne Cup in the finals.

The LAHOA Executive Board and the Board of Directors is extremely proud to announce the following officials who will be working the 2019 USA Hockey Girls Tier 1 & Women’s A, B & C National Championships! The event will be held April 4-8 at Great Park Ice & FivePoints Arena & The Rinks – Anaheim Ice.

Brittany Trani, Brea Benedict, Ryan Sanchez, Michael Pecolar, Andrew Martin, Louis Magnifico, Dylan Freed, Ian Miller, Chris Hahn, Chris Garcia, Steve Appley & Richard Ozaki.

This is a huge accomplishment for any official. Make sure to congratulate these guys if you see them around the rinks! Great work this season!