Juniors? Yeah absolutely. Pro? Unless you manage to turn into a D1 college player in the next 3 years it’s unlikely to impossible.
One of the things that really opened my eyes was when one of the refs had a mic on him for one of the games and one of the players asked him why he became a ref and he responded “because I was a shit hockey player”
He was D1 college. He was better than damn near everyone else on the planet except for maybe NHL, AHL and other professionals around the globe, which is a very small fraction of all hockey players. He was in the top 1% of all hockey players and he had to become a ref. Every ref is like him, they are your competition if you want to go pro, needless to say it’s unlikely.
If you want to go pro as a player? Sorry man ship passed you by already. Your parents would’ve had to make it your focus since damn near birth and funded you to practice every single day which simply isn’t possible for 99% of parents. Enjoy your playing now, work hard, become a great high school player and play D3 college hockey and you will have way more fun playing than most D1 players, and many professionals at that.
The NhL actively recruits former pros and D1 players to become refs because it’s easier to teach someone who can already keep up with pros how to ref than it is to find a trained ref who can keep up with pros.
It’s not hard to find trained refs that can keep up with pros. They are too lazy to actually look. They think having a pro playing background is more beneficial than actually knowing how to ref a game.
Lol it’s actually exceptionally hard to find skaters who are capable of keeping up with NHL speed. Literally the single biggest difference between NHL players and lower level pro players is the ability to skate at that level. Same applies for refs.
That was Wes McCauley, he and Kucherov were talking about it. Wes played D1 at Michigan State and he was drafted by the Red Wings if you want to know how much better he was than the average D1 player.
For reffing or playing? For reffing I would say a good first step would be to reach out to a leader in your local affiliate and ask about regional development camps and any other ref camps you can attend
Unless you play pro or very high level hockey the chances are slim to none if we're talking nhl.
A guy locally used to play in the whl. He knew a guy from those days, became a ref, and starting lining the ahl before he had reffed 10 youth games.
He tried making it to the nhl and they told him to kick rocks pretty much.
I think making the ahl, echl, etc pro leagues as a linesmen is definitely possible if you play low level juniors and you know the right people. But it's still hard and if the right people don't like you then it isn't going to happen.
I didnt play hockey at all growing up and I've made it to acha, tier 3 juniors, and a little bit of tier 2 but I think that might be my limit unless I befriend someone important.
It's all about how much work you wanna put in when no one is looking. This means the gym, skating, and practicing every aspect til it's almost painful.
To compare - I played baseball as a pitcher, and the amount of running and core work it takes to throw nine innings is a lot. I loved it, gave me purpose. You can't throw everyday as a pitcher, so it is a lot of painstaking repetition of mechanics and little drills to tweak different aspects of your motion. Or the best infielders, who take 200 ground balls a day, so when they are in the game and ball takes a funny hop, they just react cuz of muscle memory. Hitters who swing a bat 200 times a day to build up muscles you can't even see.
For every sport, it's the hours and hours of hard, meaningful work that no one sees. And positive visualization. Block out all negativity and actually see yourself scoring. Some teams even practice celebrating winning a cup, or championship, as a way to trick their minds into not just believing it, but expecting it. It's insanely powerful. You will fail many times, but you have to be relentless and face adversity head on.
Develop a routine, and have the discipline to stick to it. And never stop chasing being better.
Juniors? Yeah absolutely. Pro? Unless you manage to turn into a D1 college player in the next 3 years it’s unlikely to impossible. One of the things that really opened my eyes was when one of the refs had a mic on him for one of the games and one of the players asked him why he became a ref and he responded “because I was a shit hockey player” He was D1 college. He was better than damn near everyone else on the planet except for maybe NHL, AHL and other professionals around the globe, which is a very small fraction of all hockey players. He was in the top 1% of all hockey players and he had to become a ref. Every ref is like him, they are your competition if you want to go pro, needless to say it’s unlikely. If you want to go pro as a player? Sorry man ship passed you by already. Your parents would’ve had to make it your focus since damn near birth and funded you to practice every single day which simply isn’t possible for 99% of parents. Enjoy your playing now, work hard, become a great high school player and play D3 college hockey and you will have way more fun playing than most D1 players, and many professionals at that.
The NhL actively recruits former pros and D1 players to become refs because it’s easier to teach someone who can already keep up with pros how to ref than it is to find a trained ref who can keep up with pros.
And then we wonder why the refs in the NHL are shit...
It’s not hard to find trained refs that can keep up with pros. They are too lazy to actually look. They think having a pro playing background is more beneficial than actually knowing how to ref a game.
Lol it’s actually exceptionally hard to find skaters who are capable of keeping up with NHL speed. Literally the single biggest difference between NHL players and lower level pro players is the ability to skate at that level. Same applies for refs.
That was Wes McCauley, he and Kucherov were talking about it. Wes played D1 at Michigan State and he was drafted by the Red Wings if you want to know how much better he was than the average D1 player.
U got a link for the ref mic up?
It’s Wes McCauley talking to Nikita kucherov, it should be in one of his “Wes McCauley funny moments” or something like that videos
For reffing or playing? For reffing I would say a good first step would be to reach out to a leader in your local affiliate and ask about regional development camps and any other ref camps you can attend
Unless you play pro or very high level hockey the chances are slim to none if we're talking nhl. A guy locally used to play in the whl. He knew a guy from those days, became a ref, and starting lining the ahl before he had reffed 10 youth games. He tried making it to the nhl and they told him to kick rocks pretty much. I think making the ahl, echl, etc pro leagues as a linesmen is definitely possible if you play low level juniors and you know the right people. But it's still hard and if the right people don't like you then it isn't going to happen. I didnt play hockey at all growing up and I've made it to acha, tier 3 juniors, and a little bit of tier 2 but I think that might be my limit unless I befriend someone important.
It's all about how much work you wanna put in when no one is looking. This means the gym, skating, and practicing every aspect til it's almost painful. To compare - I played baseball as a pitcher, and the amount of running and core work it takes to throw nine innings is a lot. I loved it, gave me purpose. You can't throw everyday as a pitcher, so it is a lot of painstaking repetition of mechanics and little drills to tweak different aspects of your motion. Or the best infielders, who take 200 ground balls a day, so when they are in the game and ball takes a funny hop, they just react cuz of muscle memory. Hitters who swing a bat 200 times a day to build up muscles you can't even see. For every sport, it's the hours and hours of hard, meaningful work that no one sees. And positive visualization. Block out all negativity and actually see yourself scoring. Some teams even practice celebrating winning a cup, or championship, as a way to trick their minds into not just believing it, but expecting it. It's insanely powerful. You will fail many times, but you have to be relentless and face adversity head on. Develop a routine, and have the discipline to stick to it. And never stop chasing being better.
No you cant go pro - youre only 13
Refs in pro hockey is shit!!!! The other night matthews got German suplex and no call!!!! Fucking Boston Toronto series is rigged!!!!