ECHL ECHL

ECHL Announces On-Ice Officials Preseason Training Camp

Published on September 29, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced its annual On-Ice Officials Training Camp will be held Friday through Sunday in Reading, Pa. at the Sovereign Center, the Body Zone and the Inn at Reading.

The preseason camp will include returning members of the officiating staff as well as newly-hired referees and linesmen.

The ECHL Officiating Department is managed by Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Murray and administered by Director of Officiating Joe Ernst and Hockey Operations Consultant Bryan Lewis. In addition to the on-ice officials the staff includes Commissioner Emeritus Patrick J. Kelly, Supervisors Jim Doyle, Mark Faucette, Mike McDevitt, Mike Pearce, Jerry Pateman and Ken Wheler, and Manager of Hockey Operations Brent Garbutt.

"The ECHL Officiating Department is pleased with the dedication of our Officials whose preseason preparation and training will carry them into the regular season and through the Kelly Cup Finals," said Ernst. "We have NHL prospects who are joining and returning to the ECHL Officiating Staff which allows us to have a good mixture of veteran and young officials.

"The officials working in the ECHL receive coaching that is designed to get them to the next level of hockey as evidenced by the number of officials who have moved up to the NHL, including Ghislain Herbert last season and more recently Francis Charron."

The officials at the training camp will participate in on-ice instruction and rules tests, team building exercises as well as receiving a thorough review of the ECHL Rule Book and any directives with an emphasis on Rule Enforcement Standards.

Charlie Banfield, who is a Supervisor of NHL Officials, and Rod Pasma, who is the Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations for the American Hockey League, will address the officials as will Reading Royals General Manager Gordon Kaye.

The officials will have a team-building outing and dinner on Saturday at the Golden Oaks Golf and Country Club.

There are 20 former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL officiating team in 2009-10 with referees David Banfield, Francis Charron, Chris Ciamaga, Ghislain Herbert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre and Ian Walsh, and linesmen Steve Barton, Bryan Pancich, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak and Jay Sharrers.

Barton, Joannette, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, O'Rourke, Pollock, Rooney, Sharrers and Walsh all worked in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Joannette worked the Stanley Cup Finals while Leggo, Pollock and Sharrers worked the conference semifinals. It was the third year in a row that Barton, Leggo, McCauley, Nowak, Pollock and Sharrers have worked the Stanley Cup Playoffs.



Premier 'AA' Hockey League Fast Facts
- The ECHL celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08 and is the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.
- ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 20 teams in 15 states and British Columbia in 2009-10.
- The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to ECHL on May 19, 2003.
- ECHL has affiliations with 27 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League marking the 13th consecutive year for affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.
- 407 former ECHL players have played in NHL.
- 151 former ECHL players have played their first NHL game in the last four seasons.
- Record 52 former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2008-09 and nine players played in both the ECHL and the NHL: goaltenders Matt Climie (Idaho and Dallas), Riku Helenius (Elmira, Mississippi and Tampa Bay), Chris Holt (Alaska and St. Louis), Michal Neuvirth (South Carolina and Washington) and Marek Schwarz (Alaska and St. Louis), defensemen Wes O'Neill (Johnstown and Colorado), Raymond Macias (Johnstown and Colorado) and Kevin Quick (Augusta, Elmira and Tampa Bay) and right wing Joel Rechlicz (Utah and New York Islanders).
- ECHL has been represented on last nine Stanley Cup champions including 2009 with Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma, player Ruslan Fedotenko, equipment managers Dana Heinze and Dave Zeigler, athletic trainers Chris Stewart and Scott Adams and scout Derek Clancey.
- Former ECHL coaches working as head coaches in the NHL are Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Scott Gordon of the New York Islanders while former ECHL player Dan Bylsma is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boudreau, who coached Mississippi for three seasons winning the Kelly Cup championship in 1999, was named NHL Coach of the Year in 2007-08 becoming the first former ECHL coach to receive the award. Peter Laviolette, who began his coaching career with the Wheeling Nailers, led Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006.
- There are 15 assistant coaches in the NHL who were players or coaches in the ECHL.
- Twenty former ECHL officials scheduled to work as part of the NHL officiating team in 2009-10 with David Banfield, Francis Charron, Chris Ciamaga, Ghislain Herbert, Marc Joannette, Mike Leggo, Wes McCauley, Dean Morton, Dan O'Rourke, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Kyle Rehman, Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre and Ian Walsh, and linesmen Steve Barton, Brian Mach, Tim Nowak, Bryan Pancich and Jay Sharrers.
- ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League and for the past 20 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup Champion.
- In the last six seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,500 call-ups involving more than 1,300 players and in 2008-09 there were 10 times as many call-ups from the ECHL to the AHL than all other professional leagues.
- Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

Check out the ECHL Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from September 29, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central