Getting Started in Officiating

Officiating - Getting Started

If you are interested in becoming a hockey official, this section is for you! It will provide you with all the information you need to get your officiating career STARTED.

The level system, Level I through VI, is the foundation for the training and development of amateur hockey officials across Canada. Hockey Canada has categorized the hockey played in Canada into four basic streams, each with different priorities.

They include:

Initiation

Recreational

Competitive

Program of Excellence

BC Hockey, as a member branch of Hockey Canada, uses the Hockey Canada Officiating Program to train and evaluate officials working within BC and Yukon. The Hockey Canada Officiating Program has opportunities for everyone from the Initiation at Level I, through to the High Performance Levels V and VI.

Select a LEVEL and start OFFICIATING!

Becoming an Official

The object of the Officiating Program shall be to provide efficient, well qualified officials for the game of hockey, within the area of jurisdiction as set out below. It shall also be the aim of this program to promote good fellowship among the officials, to aid and assist in the betterment of hockey and to maintain a high standard of relationship with association members, officials and coaches of the various teams, leagues to whom the referees shall make its services available.
The structure of the Officiating Program shall be as follows: Officials must attend at least one (1) referee’s clinic during the year of certification or have transferred from another Hockey Canada Referees’ Branch Program and be able to meet the standards established within the officiating program

Equipment

A member of the Officiating Program, in the course of duty as an Official, shall be neat and clean in appearance and is to be properly dressed at all times.
Official dress shall include the official referee sweater with Branch crest(s), black trousers, polished skates and clean white laces, whistle(s), necessary protectors including CSA approved helmets (preferably black in colour), to which a CSA approved visor must be securely attached and not altered in any way, and a measuring device.
The Official Referee and Linesman Sweater are to be Black and White. Referees shall wear red armbands.