Recent News

The LAHOA Board of Directors would like to congratulate Trevor Wohlford on receiving his first assignment in the ECHL! Trevor, originally from Burbank, CA, has been living in Indianapolis for the past few seasons refereeing in the SPHL and the USHL.

Trevor, wearing number 38, worked the Indy Fuel vs Wheeling Nailers in Indianapolis on Wednesday February 10th. The players welcomed Trevor into the league in typical ECHL fashion by fighting seven minutes in and scrumming after a player was boarded towards the end of the first. Then, one minute into the second, there was a fight with a game misconducts for an aggressor assessed. Due diligence paid off for Trevor. In a close game, the teams played hockey in the third in a game that of course went to OT! I guess they weren’t going to let him off that easy in his first go. Luckily, the home team buried the game winning goal two minutes into OT.

Congratulations to Trevor on his first of many ECHL games!

With the start of the professional hockey season approaching, the LAHOA Board of Directors would like to recognize the LAHOA officials who will be working the America Hockey League (AHL) this season. Also, a big congratulations to the officials selected to be linesman in the Las Vegas area which has a new AHL team in Henderson, NV. Those officials are, Gordon Lawes Jr., Dan Leavitt, Ryan Townsend, Adam Hendren and Jason Mandroc.

Adam Bell

Linesman

Reseda, CA

AHL

Steven Berry

Linesman

Huntington Beach, CA

AHL

Neil Campbell

Linesman

Aliso Viejo, CA

AHL

Niko Diehr

Linesman

Fullerton, CA

AHL

Jacob Fraser

Linesman

Long Beach, CA

AHL

Brett Martin

Linesman

Los Alamitos, CA

AHL

Mike McBain

Linesman

Placentia, CA

AHL

Eric McDonald

Linesman

Bakersfield, CA

AHL

JM McNulty

Linesman

Huntington Beach, CA

AHL

Tanner Nua

Linesman

Irvine, CA

AHL

James Parker

Linesman

Irvine, CA

AHL

Alec Rounds

Linesman

Newport Beach, CA

AHL

Steve Walsh

Linesman

Temecula, CA

AHL

Andrew Wilk

Referee

Camarillo, CA

AHL, ECHL, DEL, IIHF

The LAHOA Executive Board and the Board of Directors would like to congratulate Andrew Wilk and Trevor Wohlford who will be working in the ECHL and Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) for the 2020-21 season!

With the season finally getting under way for these two leagues, strict COVID procedures will be in place. In the ECHL, each official will be tested before they enter the building for all games and they must have had a negative test to be allowed in to work. Coaches, bench personnel and back up goaltenders will also be required to wear masks on the bench at all times during games. Officials will have masks to wear in between stoppages when communicating with officials, players and coaches. Similar protocols are in place in the SPHL. No one is allowed in the locker room with the exception of the officials. Masks must be worn at all times in the building. Communication with the coaches while on the ice should be kept to a minimum! How about that? Coach, “Hey, can we talk about that call?” Official, “I’m sorry coach but I am not supposed to!”

Trevor started his season in the SPHL Saturday, December 26th in Birmingham. Andrew will be officiating in Orlando December 29th and 30th.

Last season, Trevor worked full time in the USHL. This season he is getting the call up to work full time in the SPHL while working games in the ECHL too! He will continue to work USHL games throughout this season as well.

Andrew Wilk starts his 9th year as a referee in the ECHL. He worked the Kelly Cup Finals in 2019 and Conference Finals in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019. Andrew will work the AHL as well once that season starts. It is tentatively scheduled to start February 5th.

Congratulations to our LAHOA officials working pro hockey!

The LAHOA Executive Board and Board of Directors would like to congratulate our four LAHOA officials who will be working in the USA Hockey Officiating Development Program (ODP). Most of these officials will be heading out to cities in the Midwest to work full-time schedules in the NAHL and USHL!

Caleb Andrade, 28, originally from Ontario, CA, lived in Amarillo, TX last season working a full-time schedule as a referee in the NAHL. Caleb got to work his first USHL game too! This season, Caleb will be living in Des Moines, IA and working full-time as a referee in the USHL. Caleb looks to work his first pro game as a referee this season!

Tyler Hascall, 24, originally from Corona, CA, lived in Chicago, IL last season and worked full-time as a referee in the NAHL. This season, Tyler will be living in Des Moines, IA and working full-time as a referee in the USHL! Tyler hopes to work his first pro game this season!

Philip Kasko, 22, originally from Irvine, CA will be living in St. Paul, MN this season working games in multiple Jr and College leagues with his primary focus on refereeing in the NAHL. Last season, Phil made two trips to the Midwest with one being a month long stent in MN. This will be his first full time season in the ODP.

John Lindner, 26, originally from Bonsall, CA, lived in Des Moines, IA last season working full-time as a referee in the USHL. This year, John is heading back to Des Moines to work full-time in the USHL and hopes to get his first pro game!

Dylan Freed, 19, originally from Simi Valley, CA and currently attending Cal State Fullerton to attain a Major in Business with a Minor in Entrepreneurship, will be working part-time while he finishes up his degree. Dylan will be making monthly trips throughout the season to work the NAPHL.

LAHOA would like to congratulate the newly appointed California Referee-In-Chief, Thi Tran! Thi takes over for Alex Morrison who joined the CAHA Board of Directors this summer. Congratulates from all of us at LAHOA, Thi!

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 the following officials on their selection to work the championship game in the Los Angeles Kings High School Hockey League. The JV and Varsity Championships will be heath March 8th at the Toyota Sports Performance Center.

JV – 10:15am – Alex Kaganovich, Garo Simitian, Sara Parras, Kenny Brzezinski

Varsity – 12:15pm – Jason Zech, Neil Liberotti, Ryan Spear, Dylan Freed

Congratulations on a great season!

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!!!

The LAHOA Board of Directors would like to congratulate the following officials on their selection to work the ADHSHL JV Finals! The Harbor and the Lincoln Conference championship games will be held February 29th at the FIVEPoint Arena!

Harbor Conference – 4:30pm – Matthew Zucker, Darius Newhall, Jake Herzog, Alexander Kitano

Lincoln Conference – 6:15pm – Dylan Freed, Darius Newhall, Jake Herzog, Benjamin DuBow

Congratulations on your assignments!