Game 2 - Stanley Cup FInals

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

Here are the two artcile links mentioned in the video:

1. All-around stars
2. Early Recruiting for Basketball (this is a video)




Got Daily Discipline to Kick Butt and Take Names???

Email me: info@ultimateofficials.com

Stanley Cup Finals Game 1

Airing My Dirty Laundry

Want to see my dirty underpants?? Sorry, I don't think they are in this video. However, an offer is in this video..

MAYBE EVEN FOR YOU????



info@ultimateofficials.com

Game 5 - Hawks vs. Wings 5/27/09

This is the non-annoying version. To see the annoying version, go to Pens-Canes game 4. To read why this is the non-annoying version, and how you can use some data to grow your game, read on..

Superstitious or Not?

This is a link-o-rama to the Penguins Eastern Finals victory. I like the move by Crosby -- gutsy, not afraid, take the bull by the horns kind of attitude.

"We didn't touch the trophy last year, and obviously we didn't have the result we wanted," Crosby said. "We figured we'd touch it this year. Although we haven't accomplished exactly what we want, we still accomplished something here. You know, we can still enjoy it." -- Sidney Crosby on his decision to forget tradition and touch the Prince of Wales Trophy

Do you have superstitions or routines? I wouldn't necessarily say I am superstitious, but I do have a routine that gets my mind "game ready". Over the years I have found this helpful to ALWAYS be "on". That's one of the main differences I see between inexperienced guys and the solid veterans in hockey refereeing = the vets turn it on ALL THE TIME.

The closest I probably came to a superstition was when I played I changed shirts every period...even after warm ups. That's four shirts a game. I used to do that reffing, too. Decided that was too much laundry.

Here's the Kid defying superstition:

Game 4 - Pens at Hurricanes 5/26/09

Not-So Live Blog:

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave

Thank you goes out to all who served our country and allow us to remain free and brave...

Another bit of emotion goes out to all of those who had passed on before us. For me, that immediately goes right to thoughts of my mother, who passed nearly 5 years ago from a battle with cancer.

For those of you who may not know, I had my own "min-battle" two years ago. I had a melanoma removed from my right calf, and I took 9 months to recover and feel "human again". We are all getting old (yes, you too, you young bucks in your teens and twenties). Get busy living or get busy dying...

Kind of ties into my title, the land of the free and the home of the brave. We obviously are all free to make the choices we want. You are certainly free to pursue the referee career you want. The only limitation is yourself...doesn't have to do with politics (even though you may think so)...doesn't have to do with no spots available in the league/level you want (even though you may think so)...certainly doesn't have to do with your age, skating ability, or skill (even though you may think so -- those are ALL correctable situations!). It all has to do with how you limit yourselves.

I get sick and tired of hockey referees who cry because they don't "get the breaks." I witnessed a referee this past year actually BREAK his arm. He was in the Junior Program, and he refused to get a cast, because he knew it would limit his potential for assignments the rest of the year. Read that again...go ahead...he refused to get a cast on a broken arm because he didn't want it to be a limitation. Home of the brave, indeed (well, at least for some). The guy went on to do playoffs in all the junior leagues that the JODP covers.

On the flip side, I also watched some guys bitch and moan about working Jr. A Tier III games. They thought they were "better than that". Wondered why they weren't getting the nice USHL gigs. NEW FLASH - IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE A COWARD...YOU ARE NOT BRAVE.

How do you instill courage into someone?

1. Training - be a part of a group that does it over and over and over again - (that's how the US stormed the beaches at Normandy).
2. You get "UNCOMFORTABLE" -- You want to be the one who "conquers a league" -- you're going to have to dig deeper and go beyond your comfort zone.
3. You seek out allies to help you in this quest -- Not one elite hockey referee EVER make it on his or her own. They always had someone to guide them, open doors for them, give them feedback, have them kick them in the ass, etc.

If you don't have "RESOUNDING YES'S" for all three of those points, you are really behind the 8 ball. You also may be leading a cowardly life. Sorry, that's to the point and direct.

Get busy living or get busy dying...
( "Andy crawled to freedom through 500 yards of sh*t-smelling foulness I can't even imagine. Or maybe I just don't want to. 500 yards...that's the length of 5 football fields...just shy of half a mile.")

Game 2 East - Canes at Pens

There's Something in the Air...

At the risk of sounding like an old grandfather, who always reminisces about the "good ol' days" I am going to talk about the mid 1990's...get a little nostalgic for you and talk about history, tradition, and culture.

For those of you who may have heard this before, I speak about a group of officials that I came up through the ranks with. It was a time when there was a serious camaraderie and culture of not necessarily excellence, BUT A COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE (you see, we were all a little green, and had many lessons to learn, but we committed to each other).

This "TEAM OF OFFICIALS" was led by the likes of Teddy Olson. In 1995, many members of this "TEAM OF OFFICIALS" went to Western Regional Camp and kicked ass and took names. From that group there has been an NHL linesmen, 5 WCHA officials, numerous IIHF assignments, and numerous USA Hockey National Championship assignments.

It was a "Commitment to Excellence". (Do you like the Raiders? Me, I am a Vikings guy...poor me. And, no, I don't want Brett Favre around. I would like a real quarterback, but I don't want him.)


This was the culture that was created. Have you ever belonged to something special in your life. A group that was truly unique? Other than this time in the mid 1990's, I would seriously have to go all the back to my first years in PeeWees and Bantams. Maybe my freshman year of football. That's about it -- maybe you don't have any such memory. Would you like to start a new memory?

LET'S FAST FORWARD TO ABOUT 2004 -- No more culture...no more commitment to anything. Sure, our "team" from the mid 1990's was out rockin' and doing things in our own referee careers, but nobody was following us. The former Minnkota district was allowed 8 slots at the Western Regional Camp, based upon the number of registered officials we have. Only 4 guys went. Our "team" went from kicking ass and taking names to not even being able to fulfill a quota. Now that sucks.

Time to do something about it...

Fast forward to 2009 - there is a great group of guys going to Western Regional Camp this year. The quota is filled! With quality, not just quantity. There are some great guys going to MHOA Camp and the Minnkota Camp. National Camp has some quality representation. There is a change in the air. Ultimate Officials invites all who want to be a part of a "Commitment to Excellence".

Someone asked me, "What's the ideal person for this team?" My answer was, "I am looking for the C+ type guy who is hungry as hell. The local guy who wants to be his best and work the Bantam championship game. They may be 22 years old, or the may be 46 years old. But they have GOT to have that hunger. And they have GOT to want it bad."

SNEEZERS

I have talked about Sneezers before, too. [Sneezers] send things through the air, too. They are the ones who REALLY make things happen.

Who are the Sneezers in your midst who can help you out?

After all, it is more about associations than anything else that can REALLY move your career forward [Read here].

To put this part plain and simple, last night I was at the Velocity Hockey Center with 8 gentlemen who have a "Commitment to Excellence". They are part of a new culture here who are hungry and want it bad. Whether they realize it or not, they are also a placing themselves amongst some Sneezers...there is the head trainer at the center named Kevin Ziegler. He has trained and does train NHL players. He has been asking for awhile (unknown to me) that a group of USHL refs come train there. He has wanted referees to come in, get off their butt, and take their game to the next level. Well, Bubba, he's got them now.

Do you think there will be talk? About the fact that 8 referees are now going to be showing up on a regular basis to train? Oh yeah...

There are Sneezers in your midst who make things happen, and you never know who they may be. Guess what?? I'll tell you.

Better tell you friends. Because there's something in the air...

Blackhawks vs. Wings - 7pm Tuesday 5/19/09

Wake Up You A-hole!

This has absolutely nothing to do with hockey, but I just happen to subscribe to these guys on youtube, and I about wet myself laughing at this one:

Game 1 East - Pens vs. Canes

Blackhawks vs. Wings - 2pm Sunday 5/17/09

Click on window below to see what a ref thinks...

Can You Hang? Baseball teaches Us About Hockey

www.teambeachbody.com/jbolson

The Percentages of Life

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” -

Herb Caen

The post is a "link-o-rama," where I am essentially posting about someone else's comments that I like, find witty, humorous, or beneficial for hockey referees to see and hear. This is a post from a newsletter I receive from Dan Kennedy. Without blabbing on too much, I am just going to post his words, giving him all the credit, because...after all...he has even written a book about "Brass Balls."

note: All emphases are Dan's...

EVERY population divides roughly into 1%, 4%, 15%, 40% and 40% groups. Many more at the bottom than at the top...

YOU may choose to move from one group [in life - in our case, a league, level, or playoffs] to another by "moving" your ambition, thinking, acquisition and use of information, initiative, effort. But regardless of your choices, the fact that the majority of your peers are dead-wrong won't change a whit. For the most part, where a particular person gets to in this continuum from the top 1% to the bottom 40% has much less to do with differences in genetics, upbringing, education, opportunity or luck than it does decisions. Associations matter a lot, but they are or can be chosen. The first critical decision for upward movement is ALWAYS distrust the majority. It's not an easy decision to make. It's even harder to stick to. To see a majority stampeding north and stubbornly turn south. Not easy at all. To remember that whatever "everybody" is infatuated with you should spurn, a damnably difficult task.

from the NO B.S. Newsletter, May 2009

Here are my $0.02 thrown in:

• The majority of officials I see who want to make big things of themself are dreamers. Just that. Nothing else. They dream and DON'T do. Real successful hockey referees take the bull by the effing horns and go. ACTION.

• Association with the right people can do greater wonders than any other characteristic or trait.

• Every notice that most of the refs (A) don't take conditioning seriously, (B) don't work very hard when reffing, (C) bitch about a lot of things and do little to change anything, and (D) wonder when their ship will come in, wondering how to get to the next level (or maybe they just don't give two sh*ts and are happy where they are)????

Ever want to belong to a group that is going somewhere, even if it is north when the rest are heading south? Ever want to super-charge yourself to a high level that you operate at each and every time you hit the ice? Ever want to referee at Mariucci arena when 10,000 are in the house??

I am blessed to be with 13 guys/gals just like...and the number is growing! [see here]

You want in??

Email: info@ultimateofficials.com -- say "I Want In!"

Game 7 - Carolina at Boston

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Ducks vs. Wings - Game 7 -Live Tryout

And We will See You...

Wednesday Night!

Game last night was awesome! Missed it?? You can get it all with these highlights right here:

Officiating Crew:
Referees - Paul Devorski (#10) and Dennis LaRue (#14 - USA Ref!)
Linesmen - Brad Lazarowich (#86) and Jay Sharrers (#57 - That's my boy!)


Personal side note: In August 2001, I went to Lake Placid, NY to attend the Elite Officiating Experience. This was the week that Team USA picks their World Jr. Team, and I was working the games that week. Well, it was one of the first night's, and I had it off, so I was watching USA play Finland (other side note -- Mikko Koivu was Finland's captain, and Jarkko Ruutu, the guy who bit someone in the thumb, was on the team, too - he was a piece of work back then, too!), and while I was watching the game I had the pleasure of sitting next to Mark Bavis.

Mark was the amateur scout for the L.A. Kings. I had met Mark a few years earlier in St. Cloud at the National Select 15 Festival. Brian Thul and I shared a couple of beers at D.B. Searle's, downtown St. Cloud after a game. He was coaching the Massachusetts team. I had also seen him on the bench with Boston University at a tournament in Duluth.

Mark and I chatted during the whole game. He was there to see David Steckel, who was a King draftee, whom Mark had scouted.

One month later Mark died in 9/11. Now that REALLY hit home for me, knowing that I knew someone personally on one of those planes. Gulp.

What Player Makes the Best Coach -- Referee, too?

Happy Mother's Day -- you're not a mother? Wish your wife a happy day for me? If that doesn't fit, wish your mother a happy day!

Barry Melrose, whom I am a fan of, is telling it like it is prior to this weekend's hockey. He makes some very good points. Among those good points has to do with, "What type of player makes the best coach?" Listen to his answer and tell me if it's the same guy who makes the best referee.

Most guys say that referee's are usually goons or goalies (I was neither). When I look at the characteristics of the elite level referee, I do see some of the same characteristics Barry mentions.

Food for thought...

Why Hockey Refs Do What They Do...

Oft asked question to me...

Q: Why do you do it? I would never take all that abuse and stuff.

A: Rather than answering that, let's allow Ed Hochuli, NFL referee explain why:

"It's like having a main line of adrenaline running in your vein for three hours on Sunday night. It's like standing on a cliff."

This is a really, really good article [read here]. Thanks, Darren for sharing it with me!

ENJOY!

And He Said, "It's 100% Mental"

This post is literally coming "hot off the press". This first weekend in May, I have been fortunate enough to attend the USA Hockey Eastern Instructors Training Seminar. I just heard a speech from a participant on the topic of "Nutrition".

The gentlemen spoke about his personal story of losing 75 pounds of fat. He got the opportunity to referee some junior hockey in his area, and he stated that he was 306 lbs. at the time.

1. He made a decision. He set a goal.
2. He committed himself to his goal, 100%, unconditionally.
3. He succeeded, because he transformed his habits.

OK, that seems logical doesn't it? Would you agree that we all know what is good for us and what is NOT good for us. I could honestly say that you probably all know enough about exercise, and the hardest part is deciding, committing, and, therefore, succeeding. Maybe you just need a kick in the rear? Maybe you just need a training partner? Maybe you just need some competition? I don't know what it is that you need to do, but I can relate to you what the guy who lost 75 lbs. did, and he was spot-on with his teaching points:

1. He involved his family. He asked them for support. Not just his wife, but his extended family as well.
2. He involved his friends. His best friend, who was also a hockey referee, was one of his supports.
3. He created a competition amongst his local association, called it "The Biggest Loser", each guy put in $10 and did a three month program to see who could lose the most weight (which he won -- $150).
4. He put his goal right in front of his face each and every day.

Ultimate Officials has the support network, the competitive aspect, and the resources for you to do the "100% Mental" things. Are you willing to decide, commit, and succeed??