CHL officials ready for action as pre-season opens

TEMPE, Ariz. – They’re the first to take the ice and can usually expect the same manner of greeting as members of the visiting team. And while most of the focus during the past week has been on players fighting for roster spots during training camp, Central Hockey League officials have completed their off-season training and will take the ice tonight at pre-season contests in Colorado, Texas and Indiana.  
On Wednesday, the league announced the names of its’ 14 full-time on-ice officials, including referees Dan Dreger, Ryan Hersey, Jon McIsaac, Marc Lavoie, Geoff Miller and Boone Bruggman. Full-time linesmen include Chris Petrin, Cory Piche, Michael Johnstone, John Grandt, Bill McGoldrick, Jon Shaw, Kai Magnussen and Jean Menard.
Lavoie, Miller, Bruggman, Magnussen and Menard are all new to the CHL this season.  
The league held three training camps this season to help test the officials and get their minds and bodies ready for work. The first took place in Boulder, Colorado in mid-September, followed by camps in Detroit, Michigan and Richardson, Texas.
Wayne Bonney, the CHL’s Supervisor of Officials characterized the camps as an important time for his staff – a time to get rejuvenated and prepared for the long season ahead. He added that what the men learn and what they teach each other is invaluable.
“We have a great group of young officials ready for the season,” Bonney said. “I feel we have a collection of officials that are very skilled in their duties and have a great passion for learning and improving. We are very eager for the season to get underway.”
Bonney, who joined the CHL in 2003, is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Central Hockey League officiating staff, including hiring, supervising and developing the Officials. He retired after 24 years of service as an NHL linesman. His career included working 1,638 regular season games, 228 playoff games, five Stanley Cup Final appearances, one All-Star Game and participation in the 1996 World Cup.
In addition to its full-time staff, the league has a list of over 150 part-time officials to draw from to cover the 594-game regular season which begins on Friday, October 15th.
The role of on-ice officials is to ensure that the game is played fairly and safely by both sides. The CHL utilizes one referee and two linesmen in each game. The referee, who wears orange armbands on his striped shirt, supervises the game and calls penalties. The two linesmen do pretty much everything else, including dropping the puck for face-offs, making offside calls and flagging hand passes and pucks batted with high sticks.
They are on the ice and in motion during all 60 minutes of play. Obviously, it’s a physical sport, a fast game, and like the players, officials have to be in top physical condition to do their jobs.

For those who’ve made officiating their career choice, training comes by way of official training schools and camps as well as power skating sessions in both Canada and the U.S. Many instructors are current or former NHL officials, who have been students at these very same training camps and schools.
Emphasis is placed on on-ice positioning, signals, penalty calling, skating skills, and off-ice theory sessions to provide a sense of “the game.” Representatives of various junior and pro leagues and USA Hockey associations are usually present to help develop and encourage young officials to further their careers in officiating.
Chris Petrin played hockey for two seasons at the University of Guelph and decided to try officiating after graduation. Like many of his peers, he built up experience by working as many games as he could.
“I actually had only one season of officiating experience prior to working for the CHL,” Petrin said. “My first year out of school, I worked local games – minor hockey , high school, etc. That summer I attended an officiating school in Guelph, Ontario where I’m from. Wayne Bonney was at the camp and offered me a job. I told him about my inexperience as an official and he just said, “Because of your playing career you obviously know the game well and can skate. Those are things I can’t teach you. I can teach you everything else.”
Petrin now has three seasons of experience as a CHL linesman behind him and says that having supervisors like Bonney and Ray Scapinello is a real perk to working in the CHL.
“It has helped my career tremendously, learning from two of the best linesmen ever to officiate.” Petrin said.
23-year-old Boone Bruggman, who is entering his first season as a CHL referee, played hockey in high school. After graduating, he’s worked his way up from officiating local midget games and men’s league games to working Junior A games in the NAHL, USHL and WHL. He’s recently had opportunities in the SPHL, ECHL and IHL and is enjoying every minute of it.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “I knew as a player I would never be on the ice during a pro game, but as an official you get a second chance so to speak, and even then I didn’t think the opportunity would come around this soon for me.”
Bruggman was invited to join 11 of his peers at the NHL Prospect Camp held in Traverse City, Michigan last month.
“That was a nice, surprising call to get, but at the same time it’s an added advantage to get on the ice for some real game situations and get the legs going again before the season starts, not to mention supervision from the NHL officiating staff.”
The careers of hockey officials parallel those of players, seeking upward mobility to higher levels of the game, with the ultimate goal of making the National Hockey League. Numerous CHL officials have advanced to the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League in recent years, including Frederick L’Ecuyer and Gord Dwyer, who are both NHL referees. 
Zac Wiebe worked as a CHL referee during the 2007-08 season and then split time between the CHL and the AHL the following year. He now referees in the AHL full-time. Wiebe says he was fortunate to work on Wayne Bonney’s staff.
“The NHL has a scouting staff for officials to identify and develop prospects to work in the AHL/NHL,” Weibe explained. “They scout heavily in the CHL because of the respect they have for Wayne and the CHL’s Officiating Program.”
Boone Bruggman’s short-term goals include earning the opportunity to officiate an All-Star game as well as a finals series. As far as his long-term goals, nothing could be clearer.
“I’d be lying if I said it was anything other than to be dropping a puck center ice, wearing a ref sweater with the NHL crest on it. But for now, I need to master the level that I’m at and try to work my way into the AHL from here. It’s going go take time, but I’m going to give it all I have.”
Contact the author/photographer at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com