Officiating is something that not everyone can do and only the strong survive and achieve success in the higher levels of the game.

Canada and in particular British Columbia has produced numerous officials that have achieved success from the minor level to pro.

While we in  BC have the luxury of watching some of these individuals develop their skills, it should also be noted that the remainder of Canada has one of the stronger officiating programs throughout the world.

That’s no slight to other countries, but with Canada having the luxury of probably more hockey per capita, it only goes without saying that they can achieve success somewhat sooner than others.

The IIHF has announced the referees and linesmen working the 2020 World Junior Championship.  This year’s tournament gets underway December 26 in the Czech Republic. 

The gold medal game is scheduled for January 5, 2020.  Group A is made up of Finland, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Switzerland, and Slovakia. Teams in Group B are Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, and the United States.

Referees

Campbell, Michael (CAN), Fateyev, Ivan (RUS), Harnebring, Andreas (SWE)

Heikkinen, Lassi (FIN), Hejduk, Oldrich (CZE), Lawrence, Fraser (CAN)

MacFarlane, Sean (USA), Morozov, Sergei (RUS), Pesina, Vladimir (CZE)

Schrader, Andre (GER), Tscherrig, Michael (SUI), Vikman, Kristian (FIN)

 Linesmen

Bowles, Riley (USA), Hagerstrom, Markus (FIN), Huseby, Chad (CAN)

Lederer, Vit (CZE), Lundgren, Ludvig (SWE), Merten, Jonas (GER)

Nordlander, Tobias (SWE), Obwegeser, David (SUI), Shalagin, Nikita (RUS)

Synek, Simon (SVK)

All of the three (3) Canadian officials are presently officiating in the WHL, while.Campbell also works in the AHL. 

Campbell works with the US officials Riley Bowles and Sean MacFarlane while MacFarlane also officiates in the ECHL.

Being a linesman isn’t an easy task and how or what they call, can affect the game in more ways than one and when you reach this plateau, you deserve nothing but respect.

Chad Huseby one of the Canadian linesmen, mentioned “It was definitely unexpected and I was a little bit surprised when I found out and it’s a very unique opportunity. One that you don’t really expect to get the call. When you do, it’s definitely humbling and pretty gratifying. Just looking forward to heading over and hopefully performing at a high level overseas.”

Surrey’s Michael Campbell also worked at the 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Championship held in Sweden as well as MacFarlane (Otis Orchards, Washington) and Bowles (Willowbrook, Illinois).

Edmonton’s Lawrence was tasked with working the Under-18 IIHF World Championship Division III Group “B” in Mexico, and the Under 20 IIHF 2019 World Championship Division III held in Iceland.

Bowles is also on the long-list of potential officials for the 2020 World Championship in Switzerland.

Huseby calls Sylvan Lake, Alberta home and mentioned what game pre is about when transitioning from Provincial Assignments to officiating International games.

“There’ll be a lot of rule review and trying to understand the differences,” said Huseby. “Other than that, just work as hard as I can every night. Just make sure I’m in the best form possible.”

Interesting for you to know and understand!

International Referees and Linesmen are licensed in the categories A, B and/or C specified as follows:

• ‘A’ Licence: Top IIHF Championship competitions of Men, Women, Men under 20, Men under 18 and Women under 18, (WM, WW, WM20 and WM18, WW18) Olympic Winter Games Final Qualifications,  Olympic Winter Games, Euro Hockey Tour, or any other international competition as specified by the IIHF.
• ‘B’ Licence:  All other IIHF Championships or competitions, Olympic Winter Games Preliminary Qualifications and all international games involving a national team in the categories of Men, Women, Men under 20, Men under 18 and Women under 18.
• ‘C’ Licence:  All senior international club team games and all international games involving national teams not specified above.

Licences are requested annually by national ice hockey associations and reviewed by the IIHF Officiating Committee, which has the right to adjust the licence application according to the career path, previous evaluations and supervisor reports, and are eventually approved by the IIHF Council.

The maximum age of IIHF referees and linesmen is 50 years of age as of the application deadline of 31 July.

Sportswave is a strong promoter of officiating and we wish those selected all the best in their career.