Back in December we reported that Meg Hishmeh and Leah Wrazidlo would be officiating the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Meg and Leah are both members of the Atlantic District Officiating Program who live in New Jersey. Each of them has officiated several Women's Ice Hockey games in the Olympics so far.

Here is a a roundup of the news reports that mention either or both of them:

• Hockey officials heading from Kinnelon to Vancouver in the Daily Record. The article talks mainly about how each of them learned that they had been selected for the Olympic tournament and recaps their playing and officiating careers to this point.
• NAHL referee to work Winter Olympics on The World of Junior Hockey Blog. This article talks mainly about Wrazidlo, her involvement in the Olympics, and the fact that she officiated a North American Hockey League game that was part of the Paint the Rink Pink Campaign.
• Female referee blazes trail from Duluth to Olympics in the Duluth News Tribune. Leah Wrazidlo is featured in this article. She is of local interest in Duluth, MN because Leah is a native of the area and a University of Minnesota Duluth alumnus.

Continue reading "Media Reports on Meg Hishmeh and Leah Wrazidlo Officiating Ice Hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics" »

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Attention potential Level 3 and Level 4 officials:

The Atlantic District will be hosting the following USA Hockey 2010 National Championships this season from April 7th to April 11th:

• Tier II Youth 14U Nationals at the Ice Vault in Wayne, NJ
• Tier II Youth 16U Nationals at Ice Line in West Chester, PA

Both of these Nationals will be in the new multi-state format (rather than by District as in the past), and so they have the potential to be very large Tournaments. As a result, we will need many qualified Level 3 and Level 4 officials to work at these sites.

In order to be considered as a Referee at Nationals this season, you must be a completely-registered Level 4 official by December 31, 2009. In order to be considered as a Linesman, you must be completely registered at Level 3 or Level 4 by Dec. 31, 2009. Note that successful registration at Level 3 or Level 4 is no guarantee of any National Tournament assignments.

If you have a desire to work in these Tournaments, be sure to register at the proper Level for the 2009-2010 season. If there are questions, please contact Tony Mariconda now at tonyrefx3 [at] aol.com.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tony Mariconda wrote, "I am pleased to announce that Matthew McNulty 2nd was born on Monday May 25th at 10:43pm. He weighed in at 8 pounds 12 ounces and 22 1/4 inches."

"Mother and son are doing great."

Congratulations to Matt McNulty and his family!

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tony Mariconda wrote:

Each year, the Milt Kaufman Award is presented to someone at each USA Hockey Officiating Instructor Training program. Milt Kaufman was the original Camp Director for this program when it first started in the mid-80’s. The criteria for this award embodies the characteristics best displayed by Milt: Leadership, Class, Character, Integrity and Friendship.

It is my pleasure to report that the winner of this prestigious award at the recent 2009 Eastern Instructor Training camp at Lake Placid was Atlantic District Official Rob Navickas.

Congratulations to Rob on receiving this honor!

Posted by Dave Aiello at 2:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Luke Murray wrote:

When the World University Games kick off February 18 in Harbin, China, Atlantic District official Kate Connolly will be one of three American officials working the international event.

A Philadelphia resident, Connolly holds an IIHF license and was assigned to officiate the Four Nations Cup tournament this past November, held at the Olympic Training Facility in Lake Placid.

At that tournament, the 25-year old Connolly worked a USA-Canada tilt
highlighted by a United States win in a six-round shootout following an
overtime period.

Only three months earlier she skated several exhibition games between the
two teams during summertime friendly matches.

Connolly joins referees Tara Leighton of Fairbanks, Alaska and Laura
Johnson, of St. Louis, MO on the ice and Supervisors Stacey Livingston and
USA Hockey Director of Officiating Matt Leaf at the games from the United States.
The World University Games conclude Friday, February 27.

The Atlantic District female officials are also well-represented at the international adult women's levels this year with Kinnelon, NJ's Meghan Hishmeh traveling to Finland to work the IIHF Women's A Pool World Championships. Andrea
Weissman, also of Philadelphia will head to Austria for the IIHF's Division
I World Championships. Both Tournaments will take place in April.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tony Mariconda wrote, "Congratulations to Dave Aiello and his wife Kathleen on the birth of their second son. Peter Aiello was born at 8:05am on January 21, 2009. He was 7 pounds 15 ounces and 20 1/2-inches at birth."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mike McDevitt, the Atlantic District Officiating Program Evaluation Coordinator, has been selected to officiate the 2009 ECHL All-Star Game Presented by Guardian Wear in Reading, PA on Wednesday, January 21. Mike will be a linesman, joining referee Shane Warschaw and linesman Mike Hamilton in the three-man on-ice crew.

According to the announcement from the ECHL:

McDevitt began officiating professional hockey in 1993-94 and has worked more than 900 regular season games in the ECHL and the American Hockey League while also working the Kelly Cup Playoffs and the Calder Cup Playoffs. He was a linesman in the 2002 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-20 World Championship and the Winter World University Games in 2000. McDevitt worked as a linesman for the 1999 Three Nations Under-20 Tournament and has been a referee in the Asian Professional Hockey League since 2004. He is an instructor at USA Hockey’s officiating camps where one of his students was All-Star referee Shane Warschaw.

Congratulations to Mike, Shane, and Mike, and good luck on Wednesday.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tony Mariconda wrote: "I am happy to report that Marty Maglio has accepted the position of Atlantic District Officiating Seminar Coordinator effective immediately."

Marty Maglio
110 Juniper Court
Glen Mills, PA 19342
marty.maglio [at] verizon.net
610-742-7251

"I am also happy to report that Vince Scriboni has accepted the position of Atlantic District Officiating Seminar Liaison – South effective immediately. Vince will take over Marty's former role with seminar administration in the southern part of our District. He joins Carl Barling, who is our Seminar Liaison in the northern part of the District."

Vince Scriboni
134 Hidden Pond Way
West Chester, PA 19382
Iceref413 [at] verizon.net
215-896-7443

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tony Mariconda wrote, "I am disappointed to announce that I have received an unsolicited message from Shane Hanlon indicating that has resigned as our District Seminar Coordinator effective immediately. I want to thank Shane for all the time and effort he has put into helping make our seminar program one of the best in all of USA Hockey."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Many officials have requested contact information for assignors for the youth hockey programs in the Atlantic District. These assignor lists are provided to us by the Atlantic District member leagues:

• Atlantic Youth Hockey League
• Atlantic Junior Hockey League / Metropolitan Junior Hockey League
• New Jersey Youth Hockey League
• Delaware Valley Hockey League and Pennsylvania High Schools

Continue reading "Officiating Assignors for Youth and Junior Hockey Programs in the Atlantic District" »

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the unique opportunities that a few up-and-coming Atlantic District officials get each year is to participate in The Atlantic District Officiating Development Camp. This is a program that was launched in June 2004 by NHL Referee Ian Walsh. Ian grew up in the Atlantic District Officiating Program, lives in Philadelphia, and has been a member of the Atlantic District and USA Hockey instructional staffs for a long time.

Ian says that the goal of the Atlantic District Officiating Development Camp is simply, "to get male and female officials ready for USA Hockey Eastern Regional Camp."

Following the Example Set By Minnesota

The idea for the development camp came to Ian six seasons ago when he was working on the staff of the USA Hockey Western Regional Camp. At that camp, he was impressed with how well the officials from Minnesota performed. Ian said.

It wasn't like the kids from Minnesota were more physically talented than others, they were just well prepared. They came to camp in shape. {The men} were always clean shaven. They were never late for class. They did well on their runs. They all made a great first impression.

Participants in regional camps typically only get to attend once. Lots of officials have arrived in the past with great potential and some significant local experience, but little knowledge of what to expect at the camp. The officials from Minnesota all looked like they knew what to expect and how to behave in every part of the program-- as if they had been there before.

Ian did some investigation and found out that all of the officials nominated by the Minnesota District attended a pre-camp run by senior instructors from that area. The specific goal of this pre-camp was to inform Regional Camp nominees of what to expect, how to behave, and how to prepare to do well at the Western Regional Camp if they were selected.

Getting the Camp Off the Ground

Ian approached Atlantic District Referee-in-Chief Tony Mariconda with the idea of organizing a similar camp for Atlantic District officials, and Tony enthusiastically approved it. Ian worked on the camp concept during the 2003-2004 season and held the first Atlantic District Officiating Development Camp in June 2004. This year marked the fifth anniversary.

Continue reading "The Atlantic District Officiating Development Camp Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary" »

Posted by Dave Aiello at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tony Mariconda wrote, "Congratulations to three of our top Atlantic District officials on their selection to work Medal Round games at 2008 IIHF World Championships:"

• Megan Hishmeh worked as a Linesman in the Bronze Medal Game at the Women's World Championships in Harbin, China.
• Dave Brown worked as a Linesman in the Gold Medal Game at the U18 World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
• Bob Ritchie worked as a Referee in the Gold Medal Game at the U18 World Championships in Kazan, Russia.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Atlantic District Officiating Program is establishing the position of District Evaluation Program Liaison. We want to enhance our Evaluation Program by providing officials with a local contact person. We expect that this will increase the number of officials who will request and receive evaluations.

The duties of the District Officiating Evaluation Liaisons will be:

• To be the local contact for the Evaluation Program.
• To coordinate game evaluation requests with the on-ice officials.
• To help recruit local senior-level officials to become members of the District Evaluation Program.
• Report to the District Evaluation Coordinator and the District Referee-in-Chief.

The District Officiating Evaluation Liaisons and their areas of responsibility are as follows:

• Evaluation Liaison- North will be responsible for New Jersey: Dave Brown has accepted this position.
• Evaluation Liaison- South will be responsible for Pennsylvania and Delaware: Bill Maurer has accepted this position.

We want to thank Dave and Bill for volunteering for this position. Please give them your support during the coming season.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)