Officials put through paces in pre-season camp

Elite League officials attend IHUK National Referee Camp

While clubs have been beginning their preparation for the new season with training camps and warm-up games, the Elite League’s team of officials have also been preparing for the 2019/20 campaign.

Earlier this month, the league’s referees and linesman were part of the Ice Hockey UK Referee Section’s third annual conference comprising of over 250 officials from across the country from Level 1 all the way up to EIHL officials.

Guest speakers such as Stacey Livingston from USA Hockey, Todd Anderson from Hockey Canada and Kim Pedersen from the Danish Federation talked to the group about different aspects of being an official, including managing emotions, stress and decision making. The whole group also enjoyed a great presentation from Dr Steve Ingham, a sports scientist who has worked with Olympic athletes such as Jessica Ennis-Hill and Sir Steve Redgrave, while EIHL official Andy Dalton spoke about his journey with the IIHF to the highest level of competition at May’s Work Championships.

As part of the weekend, Elite League officials and those Level 3 and above underwent off-ice physical fitness testing at the Nottingham University’s state of the art Sports Village. EIHL officials also had sessions with Director of Officiating Greg Kimmerly, and EIHL Head of Hockey Operations Mike Hicks. With all officials gathered in one place, the Referees Section aims not only to show a clear path towards officiating in the Elite League and beyond, but also challenge the current EIHL officials to stay ahead of those coming up through the system.

IHUK Chief Referee Joy Johnston said: “As a section we always try and think of new ways to keep the event fresh and to improve year on year. I think part of the reason why this year has raised the bar yet again is that the officials see National Conference as their key weekend to set themselves up for the season ahead. We had a varied range of guest speakers alongside the regular training sessions and they covered all aspects of the modern game for officials.”

Greg Kimmerly spoke about the weekend’s events and the pathway for officials in the UK game: