Getting Started

Ice Hockey Officials of Northern California
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Getting Started

In order to join MHOA and officiate for our leagues, you must:

Have been trained and certified as a USA Hockey referee.
Have full referee's equipment.
Make sure you are insured.
Fill out our MHOA Registration Form.

Details on these steps are below.

Step One: USA Hockey Training

IF YOU ARE A NEW OFFICIAL, Never been previously registered with USA Hockey as an official, YOU MUST CONTACT BOB WILLIAMS REGARDING THE MENTOR PROGRAM PRIOR TO PROCEEDING!!!. If you have been previously registered as an official, you must contact Steve Henderson prior to registering on this site.

In order to become a USA Hockey certified referee, you must:

Apply for certification. You can do this online at http://www.usahockeyregistration.com/. The fee depends on your level of officiating; for first-year officials, it is $35.
Attend a USA Hockey Officiating seminar. These seminars are held in August and September each year. They are a full day, with both classroom and on-ice portions. Registration for these seminars is required. Click here to see the schedule and to register.
Complete a written test. When you apply for certification (see above), USA Hockey will mail you a rulebook and a short written test. This is an open book test. You complete the test and mail it back.

Once all of these things are successfully completed, USA Hockey will mail you an official crest, to be attached to your referee sweater, and a referee certification card. You are now a certified referee -- but MHOA won't assign you to work any games until you also register with MHOA. This is easy and there's no fee; just fill out the MHOA Registration Form.

There are several things to do while waiting until your seminar date:

Work on your skating.
Even the most experienced officials work to improve their skating. You should think twice about officiating if you are not comfortable skating on rockered hockey skates. (Goalie skates are not acceptable for a referee.) In addition to general skating proficiency, focus on backwards as well as forwards skating, stops and starts, tight turns both directions, and especially being able to skate while looking in any direction and while making signals with your arms.
Learn the rules.
Study the rulebook, and the playing rules handbook. (These can be found in the Rules menu on this site.) Rule knowledge is absolutely essential for an official. (Note: you're probably better off ignoring the league-specific rule exceptions for our local leagues until after you've taken the written test.)
Play the game.
Referees do not have to also be players -- but the better ones are. The more you can understand the mindset of a player, the better official you can be.
Get your equipment and insurance (see below).

Step Two: Get Your Equipment

Officials must have the following equipment, at a minimum:

black hockey helmet with half visor
striped official's sweater with removable orange armbands (no mesh underarms)
black official's pants
black hockey skates with white laces
whistle
name plate for sweater

Recommended protective equipment includes:

padded girdle
cup or pelvic protector
shin guards and knee pads
elbow pads

MHOA also has a Flea Market for used equipment.

Step Three: Get Your Insurance

MHOA strongly recommends that you have insurance covering you when you officiate. If you have current USA Hockey certification, they provide you with insurance, but only for games in USA Hockey sanctioned leagues. Some of the leagues that MHOA serves are USA Hockey sanctioned, but not all. (Look in the Leagues menu on this site, to find out which leagues are. MHOA provides additional insurance coverage to its officials. For more information regarding this insurance please contact the MHOA President.)

Step Four: Sign Up with MHOA

When you've taken care of all of these things, and you're ready to start working games for MHOA, fill out our Registration Form.