Officiating Overview

Mission

Our mission is to identify, coach, and develop top aspiring amateur officials, to help them successfully officiate higher levels of hockey including professional, collegiate and international competition. Additionally, we seek to motivate these officials so that they return to their local areas and are valuable assets in mentoring the next generation of officials.

About

The NAPHL Officiating Program, operated by the NAHL Officiating Department, is held in conjunction with NAPHL events and is part of the USA Hockey Advanced Officiating Development Program (AODP). The program is designed to provide EDUCATION, EXPOSURE, and EXPERIENCE to officials with the purpose of:

EDUCATION - Officials will have the opportunity to participate in a pre-event webinar that will provide an overview of the various opportunities in officiating that are available within the NAHL family of leagues, discuss the NAHL Officiating ladder of development and review additional event-specific information to help them prepare to officiate NAPHL league-specific play
EXPOSURE - The program will expand development opportunities for passionate officials to work games at the highest levels of youth hockey and provide coaching and feedback that will enable them to succeed at higher levels of officiating. Officiating Coaches are experienced, have varying officiating backgrounds, and are carefully selected by the NAHL Officiating Department to provide a positive development environment
EXPERIENCE - The program facilitates the advancement of qualified candidates to positions within our NAHL Officiating Program at the Junior levels. Games will be fast paced, skilled, and competitive! Officials will gain experience in the USA Hockey 3-Official System. The preferred system of the NAHL Officiating Department for all age levels is the 3-Official System; however, event-specific factors and considerations to age level, development and officiating-specific availability may result in the utilization of the 4-Official System or 2-Official System for NAPHL league play

Program Candidates

The program is open to USA Hockey registered officials who are 18 years of age or older. Officials must be proficient skaters and athletes who are willing to learn and have a desire to improve through coaching. While an extensive amount of officiating experience is not a requirement, candidates should have mastered fundamental officiating skills and be ready to accept the challenges of higher-level youth competition.