Articles from February 2012

On January 18, 2012, the AAHA Officiating Program held a winter meeting in Trenton, NJ. The meeting was attended by approximately 65 people, including Tom Koester (Atlantic District President), Colleen Marinari (Atlantic District Executive) and Mike Lichtenberger (Atlantic District Coach in Chief). Leo Boylan, our District Referee-in-Chief, chaired the meeting, which lasted about 2 hours. Other attendees that were invited were any evaluators, instructors and assignors in the District as well as various other leaders from the Atlantic District. Below is a summary of each speaker and their comments.

Leo Boylan opened and closed the meeting with a constant message that this is "your" District and he wants input and help from everyone who is interested. He will certainly guide programs, but wants ideas and will willingly accept help from all of us. Leo outlined his plans for structure in the future and told everyone that he hoped to have this laid out at the beginning of the summer. In the meantime, a re-cap from the USAH winter meetings included:

• Registration numbers are down in the district and nationally.
• 2013-2014 will be a rule change year and after that, rule changes will be every 4 years

Tom Koester and Colleen Marinari spoke about the appointment of Leo and welcomed him then moved into a discussion on the fee structure for next year. USA Hockey will increase the fees by $10. The Atlantic District will charge $10 next year, as opposed to the $25 in the past, however each official will have to do their own online screening, which will cost $28. The District decreased their fee to offset the majority of this cost. These screenings will be mandatory and if an official does not have one done (date to be determined) they will lose their ability to work in the District.

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