As a ref who has been to Lake Placid to work the NDC in the past let me fill all of you in on the process. As officials, we have our own development path. To start, you work games within your own region/district and hope to get picked for states. At various tournaments, especially playoffs and states, you get evaluated. If one of the evaluators thinks you have potential, they will submit your name to your local ref in chief. The RIC will then give you an application for Regional camp. The regional camp participants work the Select 15/16 (now Select 16) festival. Regional camp is very intense and demanding. You get up at 5am and run several miles then you have a powerskating session. All day you are in the classroom or on the ice learning positioning, rules, etc. The instructors are all very experienced, successful officials (IIHF, NCAA, etc.). They are constantly testing you and trying to "break" you (both physically and mentally), similar to the way coaches question your every move. In addition to all the training, officals undergo physical testing and the IIHF skating testing. All games are videotaped and supervised and the instructors are not afraid to rip the officials apart of they feel that not enough/too much was called or there was a lack of hustle. Matt Leaf, director of USA Hockey officiating, is also in attendance for some of the camp evaluating. Based on camp perfomance and other factors, come March these are some of the people he invites to work Nationals.
For those who had a successful regional camp and nationals, you can apply/get selected for Select Camp. These participants work the games at the Select 17/18 development camp. The format is very similar to regional camp in terms of the structure - runs and powerskating in the morning, classroom and positioning during the day and game evaluations. Physical testing and IIHF testing is also done at this camp again. The instructors are pretty tough in their evaluations and will not hesitate to tell the refs when they are not doing a good job. Matt Leaf attends for a portion of the camp and does evaluations as well.
The next step, for those who continue to have success, is elite camp. These are the officals who work the National Festival. This is a much more relaxed atmosphere however evaluations are still done and are still tough. These officials are either being considered for or already have obtained their international license from the IIHF and are eligible to work the various events.
My point is that there is a lot more that goes into the training of the officials than 95% of the hockey population knows about. The girls who were there, I have no doubt, were working hard and trying their best because a lot was on the line for them too. They aren't being paid to work these games or attend this camp - they are there because they want to improve. Whether they made right or wrong calls, I cannot say, but remember often times things look a lot different on the ice than they do in the stands. Without trying to sound too defensive of the refs and be as objective as possible, I do suggest you try it yourself. With the large growth of girls hockey in the last 10 years, we have a major shortage female refs. I think part of the reason is the criticism refs face from players coaches and fans. It is a problem that needs to be addressed. I encourage everyone to go to a level 1 clinic this year and try it - everyone would find it is a LOT harder than it looks and I think have a new respect for those who wear the stripes in high level games.
Stripes dominate NDC - Lake Placid
Moderators: Mitch Hawker, east hockey, karl(east)