Sunday, December 6, 2009

NHL-CHL referee camp

Press Release

Vancouver, BC -- The 4th annual CHL / NHL Officiating Development Camp is taking place this weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Camp is a partnership between the Canadian Hockey League and National Hockey League officiating programs. The CHL / NHL Officiating Development Camp is held every year, and rotates between the WHL, OHL and QMJHL, with the League hosting the MasterCard Memorial Cup also hosting this annual development camp.

The camp accommodates sixteen officials, which includes four referees and eight linesmen from the host League (WHL), and two referees from each of the other two CHL Leagues (OHL and QMJHL).

The officials attending this year included:

OHL Referees – Seth Ferguson, Matt Wilson

QMJHL Referees – Dominic Bedard, Pascal St-Jacques

WHL Referees – Ryan Bonnett, Brett Iverson, Matt Kirk, Brett Montsion
WHL Linesmen – Tyler Adair, Steve Cochrane, Ron Dietterle, Justin Hull, Cory Lundquist, Darren Spurgeon, Nathan Van Oosten, Chad Williams

The camp will include classroom and ice sessions, with the focus being on game supervision and coaching. All referees and linesmen in attendance will officiate in two WHL games played in Chilliwack, Kamloops, Kelowna, and Vancouver.

The National Hockey League Officiating Department has four representatives in attendance to provide instruction and coaching: Charlie Banfield, Al Kimmel, Lance Roberts and Dave Smith.

The Canadian Hockey League is represented by Conrad Hache from the OHL, Pierre Leduc from the QMJHL, and Kevin Muench from the WHL.

The camp will be beneficial not only for the NHL in their identification and recruitment of prospect officials, but also for the Leagues in the CHL in assisting with the development of officials and for the personal development of the officials in attendance.

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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