I'm taking the referee's course this weekend for the first time and looking forward to getting out on the ice with the stripes on -- anyone else ever done it, have any insight, etc??

I did it while I was younger, and for some reason, I think through a mistake, never got in contact with any of the leagues.

I did end up reffing some minor roller hockey, but it was pretty laid back.

I've actually wanted to get into reffing for some time though, and probably will when I figure out where I'm going to be settling down.

You might say. I'm Referee-in-chief for Burnaby Minor Hockey Association. Hint, the course is easy. Positioning is key and ignore the fans. Good luck!

Do you have any contacts in southern ontario?? London area?

None. Sorry

I reffed some Mites games and one older, wasn't too bad mainly did it for the pay and because I thought it'd be fun.
Watch out for coaches.

What do/did you guys make for it? Down here I've heard $20-30/gm is normal.

If it's anything like USA Hockey, take a pillow to sleep through level 1.

I took it last year, with no intentions of actually reffing. I was a coach (at the time, taking time off) and thought it would help me understand the ref's thinking. Level 1 was too basic for this.

Anyway, now that I'm not coaching, I'm thinking about going into reffing after this year.

Let us know how it goes.

How did the course go?

I took my level 1 again a few weeks ago and got my USA Hockey official crest a few days ago from passing the online test. I also just bought ~$600 of full gear from hockeymonkey.com so I definitely plan to ref as much as possible, as soon as my knee allows.


I have partial tears in my ACL and PCL that I'm currently resting and doing physical therapy for. I skated on Monday night for coaching PeeWee (11-12 year old) practice and it felt good.



Anyway, this thread kinda died, so I thought this might bring it back to life!

I'm going to get back into reffing at some point in my life.

By the way, for the ~$600 I got:
Jersey
Pants
Girdle
Elbow pads
Shin Guards
Bag
Shin tights
Helmet
1/2 shield
Jock pants
Compression top

I didn't go the cheap way with any of that stuff, getting CCM, Nike-Bauer, or RbK of everything and not their cheapest helmet, etc.

I got my level 2 in refereeing.

That was quite some time ago, I did it all throughout high school. I'm sure the prices have changed but about 6 yrs ago, it was...

This is based on rep hockey though.

$15 - novice
$17 - atom (linesman)
$21 - atom (ref)

Then I believe it went up in $2 increments as you went up. As well too, if it was playoffs, you were paid gas as well as you weren't allowed to ref in your centre.

2 years in to my reffing career, I'm having a good time with it. I'm in kind of a small/rural centre but I get probably 5-6 games a week, mostly between fri-mon and it's anything from novice up to bantam. I've done a few midget games in last year's playoffs (as linesman) and broken up a bunch of fights, which is always fun.

The money is almost a bonus, I'd pretty much do it for free just to get out on the ice with the kids a few times a week, but it's nice to have an extra $100-150 in my pocket in cash at the end of the weekend.

I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's been away from the game for a few years and would like to be involved again.

Reffing >>>> Coaching

I'm pretty sure the lowest pay level for reffing games around here is $30/game. Even for 5-7 year olds.

I know for sure that adult league games are $30 or 35 depending on the rink.

Coaching >>>>>> Reffing AINEC

Maybe you haven't coached before but winning with a group of kids is just as fulfiiling as winning when I played myself.

what's that job pay?? lol

It just works better for me with my job/shift work because I can't commit to being somewhere every saturday/sunday at whatever time. With reffing I can work it around my schedule.

how much do they pay per game? I used to ref in a small centre too. We were a "D" centre. And are you reffin Houseleague or Rep? When I did, I did both but rep paid a little better.

im not sure about down there, but here mens league is the way to go... im doing 30ish games per month all double or triples and its $45-50 per game.

I got the last of my gear shipped yesterday. So, now to get scheduled some games!

I'm going to start off doing some adult league games. Once I get 10ish of those in, I'm going to try for 12 year old and under games for the rest of the season while still doing adult games.

I've been doing the Sunday game before or after my game, which is nice. $35/game. I've done 2 now and both went well.

Thought I'd share.

Some things are better than money.

I did 4 games over the weekend. I was scheduled for a Sunday morning adult league game only. I saw the scheduler for the ice 5 mins from my house Friday night and told him I was ready to do some games since hurting my knee in the fall. I got a call on Sat saying there was a PeeWee game in 18 minutes that the organization forgot to request refs for, so I hurried there and did the game. Since I bailed the scheduler out, he asked me if I wanted 2 more Sunday night.

The one was a 6th-9th grade game between a local team and one from OH. In the first period, I was the low ref (2 ref system) and player from OH comes down the slot and is tripped by a white player. I put my hand up for tripping and follow the shot to the net. I look back to a crowd of 4-5 players but I'm not sure who on white tripped him. Play goes on for a delay penalty for 40-45 more seconds to the other end. I whistle the play dead, skate to the scorer's table and call "White, 2 minutes, tripping....hold on for the number."

I was going to ask white's coach, who I know well, for the player, but I see a kid opening the penalty box door and going in. #24...WALKOM on his back. His son: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Walkom

I'm sure he knows the book better than I do, so he knew what he did!


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, there goes my chances at reffing in the NHL! HAHA! (I know I had 0% chance, if you didn't get the sarcasm.)

fwiw, I'd only do this for a major where I'd kicked the kid off the ice and didn't get the number before he went off due to a skirmish or something. For your every day run of the mill tripping penalty, just wait a second to see if a kid follows you to the box and if not, just pick somebody from the group...lol

I was only going to do it because I know the coach very well.

Thanks for the advice.

New season starting here soon, but I'm so damn busy in the next few months I won't do that many games. Walkom spoke at our reffing seminar a few weeks ago and told some great stories. He also told us his work outs to stay in shape and they are out of hand, he's a beast.

I ended up doing 56 games last season, from Squirt to adult league games. I hope to do 10-20 more than that this season.