More Playoffs and Post-Season News

Big time props go out to the following playoff assignments for Ultimate Officials Referee Campers that have happened since I last posted:

Duncan Ryhorhcuk - Womens' Division III Frozen Four - including Championship Game

Superior International Junior Hockey League

Adam Shadiow - Game 7 Playoff Championship Game - Spooner, WI

(Joel Omundson, back up for Game 7)

NAHL Junior Hockey Playoffs

Cameron Voss - First and Second Round

Kevin Cassidy - First and Second Round

Joe Millette - First Round

Ryan Szymanski - First Round

ECHL Minor Pro Hockey Playoffs

Jake Brenk - First and Second Round

CCM High School National Invitational Tournament - Plymouth, MN Apr 19-22

Robert Beckl

Nick Bradshaw

Mike Diebold

Tim Ferrel

Jesse Langer

Zach Nelson

Joe Oberg

Glendon Seal

Ryan Szymanski

USA Hockey Western Instructor's Training - Colorado Springs, CO - Apr 19-22

Clayton Smith

UO Off Season Tredmill Camp - May 1- June 14, 2012 - Bloomington, MN

Brendan Cohen

Norm Gaskins

Patrick Murray

Zach Nelson
Glendon Seal

Clayton Smith

Cameron Voss

USA Hockey National Tournaments, et. al.

USA Hockey National Tournaments Mar 28-April 1st

Congratulations goes out to the following Ultimate Officials referees for working the following tournaments:

2012 USA Hockey Tier II 12 & Under Championships - Ashburn, VA

Duncan Ryhorhcuk

Ryan Szymanski

2012 USA Hockey Tier II 14 & Under Championships - Wayne, NJ

Mike Diebold

Tommy Knapp

Joe Oberg

Dave Zulla

2012 USAH Tier II 16 & Under Championships - Green Bay, WI

Aaron Barlow

Nick Bradsahw

Jamie Halverson

2012 USA Hockey Tier I (All Divisions) Championships - Amherst, NY

Nick Biondich

Adam Shadiow

2012 USA Hockey Junior Tier III - Rochester, MN

Tim Ferrel

Mike Kephart (Prospect's Tournament)

Joe Millette

Ted Brill Great 8 - H.S. All Star Festival

2012 Minnesota Hockey "Great 8" Festival - H.S. Seniors - South St. Paul, MN

Eric Arndt
Robert Beckl

Shane Paskey

Clayton Smith

Superior International Junior Hockey League - Playoff Finals

2012 SIJHL - Junior Hockey Playoffs - Finals - Spooner, WI

Joel Omundson

MN Hockey Youth State & Other Playoffs

It's Been a "Great Day for Hockey" for a whole host of Hockey Referees 

in the UO Online Camps.

The following UO boys had assignments in MN Youth Hockey Tournaments March 16-18:

Pee Wee A Tournament (Alexandria, MN):

Zach Nelson

U14 Girls A Tournament (Faribault, MN):

Chad Clark

Cory Effertz

Bantam A Tournament (Cottage Grove, MN):

Terry Lavalle

Jr. Gold Midget U16 Tournament (Plymouth, MN):

Clayton Smith

Jr. Gold Midget B Tournament (Plymouth, MN):

Robert Beckl

Mike Diebold (Championship game)

Darren Glur

Jr. Gold Midget A Tournament (Plymouth, MN):

Joe Oberg

Glendon Seal

Atlantic District Playoffs:

U12AA, U14AA Tier 2 Championships
U12AAA, U16AAA Tier 1 District Championship Finals

Tommy Knapp

U16A Tier 2 District Championships 

U12AAA Tier 1 District Championship Final

Dave Zulla

Semifinal Playoffs (Spooner, WI)

Joel Omundson

Minnesota Junior Hockey League Finals:

Aaron Barlow

Tim Ferrel

North American 3 Hockey League First Round Playoffs:

Joe Millette
Cameron Voss

NCAA Division III Women's Frozen Four (Lake Placid, NY):

Duncan Ryhorchuk (Championship Game)

It's Playoff Time for UO

Here's what happened the previous week in playoff action for guys in the Ultimate Officials Referee Camps:

Mike Diebold, Neil Missling, and Clayton Smith all worked the NAHPL's Playoffs in Troy, MI.

Claytom Smith refereed the Silver Division U18 Championship game.
Neil Missling lined the 14U final game.

Joe Oberg and Adam Shadiow were linesmen in an NCHA Quarterfinal Game, UW-Stevens Point beating UW-Superior in the series 2-1 with a mini-game in OT.

The following all had Section Playoff assignments in MN Girls HS Hockey:

Eric Arndt: 7AA Semi, 4AA Final
Norm Gaskins - AA Qtr and Semifinal
Mike Diebold - AA Semifinal
Joel Omundson - 7AA Final (4 OT's!)

Dave Zulla: Gordon Cup - New Jersey Boy's Hockey - Qtr Final

The following all had action in MN Hockey District Playoffs:

John Busch - Bantam A districts
Robert Beckl - Bantam A districts
Nick Bradshaw - Bantam A districts
Tim Ferrel - PeeWee A, PeeWee B, Bantam B2, and Bantam A districts
Jason Olson - Bantam B districts
Joe Oberg - Bantam B districts

Playoff Time

see more testimonials here: UO Testimonials

Current UO Referee Campers Working Playoffs (i.e. Bigger and Better Games) to date*:

Dave Zulla - Mercer County Tournament Final (NJ) - NJ State Varsity Championship

Kevin Cassidy - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals

Robert Beckl - MN District 5 Bantam A Championship

Nick Biondich - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals - NCHA Women's Div III Playoffs

Adam Shadiow - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals

Joel Omundson - MN Girls H.S. Sectionals - NCHA Women's Div III Playoffs

Joe Oberg - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals - MN District 6 Bantam B1 Championship

Mike Trumble - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals - MN District 6 Bantam B1 Championship - Bantam A Championship

Darren Glur - MN Girls H.S. Sectionals - MN District 5 Bantam A Championship

Ross Callahan - MN District 6 Bantam B1 Semifinals

Joe Millette - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals

Eric Arndt - MN Girls H.S. Sectionals

Mike Diebold - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals

Nick Bradshaw - MN Boys H.S. Sectionals

Cory Effertz - MN Girls H.S. Sectionals

Neil Missling - MN Girls and Boys H.S. Sectionals

Tim Ferrel - MN District 3 Bantam A Championship

Clayton Smith - MN District 3 Bantam B1 Championship

Jamie Halverson - MN Girls H.S. State Tournament

Norm Gaskins - MN Girls H.S. State Tournament

Shane Paskey - MN Girls H.S. State Tournament

Cody Majerus - ND Boys H.S. State Tournament

* to date = does not include those going to MN Hockey Youth State Tournaments, Junior Hockey playoffs, and USAH Nationals, etc.

******************

Text message from Dave Zulla:

"You have no idea how it feels to be motivated by this group.  The mental focus and the physical push on every shift feels amazing!"

Gone Tweeting

Where's the steady stream of content?  C'mon man...

C'mon man, I came here looking for content.  Where's the steady stream of content?

I't Playoff Time

The steady stream of content is coming via my BlackBerry from the whole host of playoff action I will be watching.  The steady stream will be coming from my Twitter account.

Follow me on Twitter: jonlybonly

* comments on hockey referee specific situations

* comments on mental toughness aspects of hockey refereeing in the playoffs

* comments on penalty selection and judgment

* NO COMMENTS on scores, updates, etc...it's all about hockey officiating.

C'MON MAN...follow my Twitter feed.

All Kinds of March Madness

arch is great time of the year (especially when it is 64 degrees out, baby!).  There are all kinds of great hockey -- my backyard has the Minnesota State High School Tournaments, the Minnesota Youth Hockey State Tournaments, the WCHA Final Five...heck...even the Women's Frozen Four is in town at Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota Campus!

It's just a fun time of the year ~~ WARNING...I am going to go back into my memory banks and pleasantly relive some memories from 1995 ~~ WARNING

Dateline - Moorhead, MN 1995, site of the Bantam A State Tournament

Rick Looker, Scott Engman, and myself were selected from MN District 16 to work the Bantam A State Tournament.  We travelled from Bemidji, MN (where we were all residing at the time) to Moorhead.  I remember checking into our hotel room on Thursday, prior to the banquet at the VFW Club, and checking all of the NCAA Hoops scores (just like I am doing now) to see how my bracket was doing.  We had a fun time connecting with the other officiating crews that night -  which included a District 5 crew (Brian Thul - WCHA ref,  IIHF ref, ECHL 5 year ref and Evonne Young (prior to Fix) - WCHA Women's ref, IIHF Olympics), a District 10 crew (Eric Olson - current MHOA President and Greg Anzelc - current editor of Minnesota Hockey Journal), and another crew from District 15 (Brian Mach - NHL Linesman) = WOW!  

I also remember working our early quaterfinal game on Friday and coming back to the hotel to clean up.  I remember watching the WCHA Final Five on T.V. and seeing Jerry Krieger wave off a goal against Minnesota (funny thing is, there quite a few who remember that incident :)  Out of all the fun we had on the ice -- our Dist 16 crew was selected to work the championship game -- I remember the people.  The bonding.  The commaraderie.  The memories.

Why bring up that story?  Because that's what we provide here at Ultimate Officials in our Referee Camps - a chance to relive GREAT MEMORIES over and over and over and over again.

I am so proud of the guys from the UO Camps who are participating in MN Youth State Tournaments this weekend:

Darren Glur and Shane Paskey (Bantam A)
Neil Missling (16U Boys Midget)
Kevin Cassidy and John Busch (Jr. Gold B Midget)
Joe Oberg (Jr. Gold A Midget)
Mike Diebold (19UB Girls)

and one guy working a Youth State Tournament in New Jersey:

Domenic Zecca (16U Tier I Midget)

******************************
More madness =


How about the Madness of no suspenion? 
(Even Grapes is incensed!)



How about this hit?:
(I love the comments from the NHL Network guys = right on)



Take a look at the game link for not only the Wisniewski hit, but I want you check out the play preceeding the game winning goal (OMG!): Chicago at Anaheim Highlights 

(Randy Carlyle, the coach of the Ducks, thought it was a clean hit?!?  And Wisniewski gets an 8 game suspension?!?  What about Matt Cooke?!?)
*******
(next day addition and edit):


OK...I am a teacher and I deal with kids who get in trouble all the time.  I am telling you, IT IS SO EASY TO TELL WHEN SOMEONE IS LYING to get out of trouble.  I am telling you, Wisniewski looks just like a 5th grade boy who got caught trying to steal something.  I love that the NHL Network put together a string of videos to back up any comments made...hilarious (or scary?...how about the cross check to the face?!).  By the way -- I think the term "HEAT SEEKING MISSILE" describes Frattin, too.



Madness...it's all Madness! 
(on a side note -- I think the playoffs this year is going to be better than last year, which was UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!) 

The Best Time of the Year

Playoffs, state tournaments and championships are what the hockey season is all about.

This week we will have the Minnesota Hockey Youth Tournaments all throughout the state. I know that I will be taking in the action in Richfield, St. Cloud, and New Hope. It's also an exciting time with the WCHA Final Five this weekend in St. Paul.

The NHL also recognizes this time of the year, too!: