Knoxville Icebears

USA Hockey and SPHL officials recognized

Huntsville, AL - -USA Hockey and the National Hockey League announced the roster of officials selected to attend the 2009 North American Officiating Program of Merit in Rochester, NY July 7th-14th earlier today June 17, 2009. This camp is used to evaluate officiating talent from across North America and gives the NHL a chance to look at and identify a pool of potential future officials for on-ice work at the highest level of professional hockey, the National Hockey League.

USA Hockey and the Southern Professional Hockey League will once again have excellent representation among the officials who will be attending the program. Six of the 12 officials selected for the program come from the USA Hockey Officiating Development Program, including five officials who worked in the SPHL over the past two seasons.

USA Hockey attendees include referees Justin Brown (Roseville, MN); Boone Bruggman (Wenatchee, WA); Nick Krebsbach (Minot, ND) who will join linesmen Dana Penkivech (Apple Valley, MN) and Judson Ritter (Des Moines, IA) at the camp. Officials from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League make up the balance of the prospects in attendance.

Additionally, later this summer, USA Hockey and the SPHL will be announce the names of a significant number of officials who have been contracted to advance to higher levels of professional hockey from this past season’s officiating staff.

Scott Brand USA Hockey’s Coordinator for the National Officials development program and who also serves as Director of Officials for the SPHL said “Obviously it's a great honor for our officials to be recognized by USA Hockey and the NHL; we wish them the best of luck at camp.”

The SPHL, the leader in Single “A” hockey, will commence its sixth regular season in October 2009.  Located in the Southeastern United States, member teams are located in Biloxi, MS; Columbus, GA; Fayetteville, NC; Huntsville, AL; Knoxville, TN; Lafayette, LA; and Pensacola, FL. Additional information on the SPHL can be found at http://www.thesphl.com.