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Yes sir, I am over it because you have deemed it not worthy of discussion. It was a question, get off your high horse.

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@marka This has been a great read. I officiated a bit in college, which was a LOOOONG time ago. My sons (17 and 22 years old) are both level 4 USA Hockey officials. Both have attended the local district's advanced officiating camp multiple times, and my younger son is seriously considering a pathway through to higher levels via the local district's ODP (Official Development Program). It doesn't hurt that he's a reasonably good (though no one will call him fast) skater at 6'3" and has probably one of highest hockey IQ ratings of any defenseman in our area, much like his older brother was (though with better hands). He's already officiated all levels of adult hockey this summer except for the "former pro / NCAA" level at one of our local rinks. This summer, I asked him if I should start officiating too, since we're always super short in this area (Dallas rinks are booked solid most days from 7AM to midnight), but also knowing he is one of those kids who won't want me embarrassing him. Shockingly enough, he said to go for it, and I went and got certified in early August. I would have started reffing right away, but I had to buy all new gear other than a helmet (had 1 for coaching) and skates, since my player shin guards / elbow pads / girdle don't fit under ref pants. I finally got my first games about 2 1/2 weeks ago and have already worked 18 games between house tournament, travel tournament, and adult games (mostly C to B- level, which is what I play at). I've even worked about 5 games at various levels with my younger son, who of course chirped my positioning (which I know is rough still) but was otherwise not as hard on my as I would have expected. I've worked some pretty high-level travel games at the 12U level, and have had decent feedback so far. I definitely need to work on staying out of the way of play as the low official in the offensive zone, but so far, all the years of playing and coaching have given me a decent base of how to handle the calls during the game itself. Overall, your experiences match mine in a lot of ways, so I'll say again that this was a great thread. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Like how Bauer gets flowers for the ER Spine, but STX did it better with the PureGrip shaft before them.

Hockey community: “I hate how expensive everything is and how nothing really changes. STX: Hey guys, look at these different ideas we are trotting out. Hockey community: Oooooooh, Bauer slapped a new model name on the supreme line and is charging 10% more than last year for effectively the same product. It must be great!

Howdy, Oh yeah... I was going to say... I started doing checking games this year. Nothing super serious, relatively lower level Bantam stuff local to me and I filled in for a period of a high school game when there was a scheduling issue and I was at the rink for a previous game. That wasn't nearly as big a jump as I thought it was going to be at least in the handful of games I've done so far. In hindsight its not all that surprising... Its still the same game and there's lots of restrictions on how you hit someone. The high school game I filled in for was one of the most fun games I've done so far... National anthem to start, being announced as an official, having penalty calls and goals announced, etc. Kinda takes it to another level to know that they're going to announce what you called / who you gave that 2nd assist to! 🙂 Mark