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Nanaimo Minor Hockey is Proud

Women's Olympic hockey tuneup steals spotlight in Comox
Times Colonist - February 5, 2010

It is literally a five-ring circus in the Comox Valley, with more than 400 athletes and officials from 16 nations encamped there for their 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics preparation period. Click Here to read more.

 

Re: Summer Officiating School

February 6, 2010

Dear Division Directors,

We hope this finds you well. We are sending you this email in hopes that you could extend and forward our camp information and invitation to your local RIC memberships. We are a one of a kind development and exposure camp to aspiring professional ice hockey officials. We provide instruction to both genders 14 and up. Our camp is located in Penticton, B.C., and there are two separate camps beginning July 5, 2010. It is a five day camp with 12 hours of instruction per day, which includes off-ice training, lectures, video analysis, case studies, power skating, and game assignments. The students and staff at our school are responsible for the on and off ice officiating of the IDT (International Development Tournament) of the world renowned Okanagan Hockey School (Est. 1963), which is a sanctioned BC Amateur event.

Our motto is 'Marshals of Impartial' and our mandate is to provide a safe, unique, and rewarding experience to all officiating students and their families. Some associations last season sponsored one or two of their young officials to our attend our camp and the feedback and knowledge brought back to their home associations was rewarding for everyone. Our main goal is to be a supplementary resource and inspiration to young officials outside of the excellent instruction they currently receive within BC Hockey under the leadership of Rob Fryer. Our vehicle is simple. Teach them in an applied setting (tournament over the course of a week) by current professional officials who were once in their skates. We strongly believe this model improves officiating at all levels also helps retain and provides short and long term goals for many of the young officials in today's game. 

Again, our camp instructional staff boasts current Full time N.H.L. (National Hockey League) Referees and Linesman, W.H.L. (Western Hockey League) Officials and W.H.L. Supervisors/Assigners, as well as Level 5 Officials from Hockey Alberta and BC Hockey. We are also proud to be a leader in Power Skating Instruction for Ice Hockey Officials as well as the first to utilize state of the art technology in our all of our Evaluating, Feedback and Reporting to our students. To register or view our website please visit: www.okanaganschoolofofficiating.com

On behalf of all of our professional instructional staff we hope you have a rewarding end to your season, and we wish you the best on your future hockey administration endeavors!

Sine Cera,

Steve Kozari, N.H.L. Referee
Head Instructor OSO

Cc: Robert D. Stepaniuk B.A. (PSYC), M.Ed.
Power Skating Instructor
Co-Founder OSO, 2007

 

Letter from Nanaimo Referee Committee Advisor

Dear Nanaimo Minor hockey Association:

I am writing this letter on behalf of the Nanaimo referee committee.

As officials we are supported greatly by all of you. We wanted to send you a letter to let you know just how your support has helped us.

Four years ago we formed this referee committee in Nanaimo. At that time we had very few home grown Nanaimo officials working above Minor hockey and none that I can recall being selected to work any high performance hockey for BC.  It was a goal of our committee to change that. We wanted Nanaimo to produce as many top level officials as we could. Well I want to say that we are well on our way to achieving that goal. This goal would not have been attained if it wasn’t for the support we have received from the association.

I want to take this moment to highlight some of our officials and some positive comments that we have heard back. As far as we are concerned, any positive comment that we receive is a compliment to the entire association, not just the committee.

Dustin Dawes: Dustin officiated 97 hockey games this season for NMHA. He would Ref or line and no matter at what level or time. I noticed Dustin this year take on a leadership roll and worked very hard to help out the young officials starting out. He would line so he could help them ref their 1st game. He was selected to work Lines for the Junior B league this year. He ended up doing 12 games for them this year including 2 in the play-offs. This was a great accomplishment because he didn’t do his 1st game until November. In his 1st game he was 16 years old. The supervisor from Victoria had very positive comments about his work. Dustin was also a regular linesman for the Major midget boys this year as well. He was nominated for official of the year by Pacific sport and was selected to ref the zone try-outs for the Female U-18 program held in Port Alberni. He was recommended for his level 3 by Mike Fraser. This has been a great year for Dustin and he is a product of the support given in Nanaimo. For his accomplishments we have selected Dustin as the official of year for Nanaimo Minor Hockey

Nathan Taekema: Nathan has been an official that keeps improving each year. He continues to do us all proud in Nanaimo. This year he officiated in 87 games for NMHA. Nathan also took more of a leadership role as well and was very willing to help out the younger officials. He continued to be a linesman for the Jr. B league this year and we are confident that he will be moving to Jr A shortly. He was a regular linesman as well for the Major midget league and was also selected to officiate the Female U-18 try-outs in Port Alberni. His last accomplishment was to be recommended for his level 3.

Cody Gessner: Cody continues to be a great representative of NMHA. He passed his on ice certification for his level 3. Continues to line in the Jr. B league. He is comfortable reffing at any level in Nanaimo Minor hockey. Cody had a heavy workload and school schedule this year but still managed to officiate 40 games for NMHA. This is proof of his dedication to the program. He also sat on our officials committee and helped mentor the younger officials whenever he could. He too was selected to officiate the Female U-18 in Port Alberni.

Jamie Scriver: WOW! Jamie has stepped right up to the plate this year. Last summer she was selected to attend a females officiating camp at UBC (I believe) and she has not stopped since. She has taken on several roles this season, volunteering her time where she can. She became the female official’s advisor on our Referee committee. She has recruited more female officials and has been the person the female officials go to when they have concerns. She officiated more than 90 games for NMHA this season. She was also going to Vancouver to officiate many games over there in the female division. She was chosen to officiate the Midget Female provincials in Nelson this spring. Her drive and dedication as well as your support have put her on the radar to be selected to represent North Island for many high profile assignments.

Tamara Dawes: At 15 years of age, Tamara has had some accomplishments that many don’t see until age 18 or 19. She officiated more than 85 games for NMHA this season. Unfortunately all of them on the lines. We would like to see her start reffing next year. Recently Tamara went to 100 mile house to officiate the BC Female U-16 games. She was selected to line the Bronze medal game. She also lined the Midget tier 1 females this season. For a 15 year old this is a great accomplishment. Tamara has been selected as the Most improved official for NMHA.

Alyssa Zado: Alyssa is another great news story. I remember her just 2 season ago, starting to progress but running into a few bumps along the way. She persevered and came out strong this season. She has a great attitude and gladly accepted over 50 games this season for NMHA, both reffing and lining. For her efforts this year, she too was selected to go to 100 mile house for the U-16 games and was chosen to line the Gold medal game.

Meghan Pranke: Meghan continues to impress me. She is one dedicated hockey person. She managed to officiate more than 40 games for NMHA this year. As well as playing in Nanaimo and in Vancouver, she would come out any chance she could. Meghan was not only selected to go to 100 mile house for U-16, she was chosen to Referee the Gold medal game. My only fear is we may lose her next season for school.

We are very proud of the officials in Nanaimo. I personally have watched all the officials listed above in the beginning of their officiating careers. I think I have shadowed each of them in their early years. It is good to see the progress they have made. 4 years ago we did not have much coming out of Nanaimo in the way of officials, now we have 4 men working above minor (1 in the ECHL: Tim Bilyk). We have 4 female officials that are being recognized around the province for their efforts. These men and women are proving what can be done with a supportive association. We are proud of the support we (the officials committee) give these officials, but Nanaimo Minor hockey as an association should also be recognized for the support you have given them and us.
Thank-you for doing what you do.

I would like to relay a couple of comments that came from out of town this season:

Jamie Scriver was told by head of the female officiating program (Theresa Anderson): Nanaimo is producing some of the best female officials in the province, I don’t know what they are doing there, but it is working.

Recently, in my dressing room I had an Uncle to one of our younger officials watch his nephew. This gentleman was from the Ontario Hockey association and was part of the officiating program out there. His comments to me after watching 2 games was: I have never seen such young officials know their job as as what I saw today. They know where to stand and how to conduct face-offs. They are not afraid to make a close call. Whatever you people are doing in Nanaimo, keep it up because it is working.

This comment from a gentleman who has seen thousands of officials: What are we doing in Nanaimo? We are getting support from our association. You have provided us with financial support for clinics and schools. You have provided us with ice sessions to practice our procedures. You have given us monthly meetings where we discuss rules and interpretations. You have provided financial support for supervisions. You have provided moral support and backing when there is trouble and you have strived to make the Nanaimo arena’s a less abusive place to be.

Thank-you very much for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Hank Aarsen

Nanaimo Referee Committee Advisor