Interested in Officiating?
If you are interested in becoming a referee for Raider House League games, please read the info below and make sure you are eligible to join our referee pool before you take the steps to get USAH certified.
Raiders House Referee Pool Eligibility for 2020-21 Season:
- Player Status with Raiders:
- 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 birth years: Must be a registered player in Raiders Travel or House Program for 2020-21 season.
- 2002 and older: Open to all USAH certified refs, Raiders or not.
- 2009 and younger: Not eligible for ref pool.
- Proficient skater * Arrive early to game assignments * Keep work commitments
Steps for Becoming an Official:
New Officials: ALL steps must be completed prior to working any games.
Returning officials: Because your 2019-20 USAH certification expires November 30, you can ref games at the start of the season. But if you want to continue reffing games for the rest of the 2020-21 season, you must complete ALL steps below no later than November 30, 2020.
So please plan ahead!
1. Register with USA Hockey as an ICE OFFICIAL
- You have to register every year. This is a separate registration from a player and coach registrations — you get a different number for USAH officiating registration.
- You must be registered with USA Hockey before you can do anything else toward becoming an official.
- Once you are registered, you will receive:
- An email giving you information (including your USAH Officiating Number) relating to completing your Open Book Exam and online Education; and
- A copy of the USA Hockey Playing Rules & Casebook (new officials and Rule Change Seasons only) within a week along with some additional information to help you along with the registration process.
- Returning Officials: Be sure to have your USA Hockey Officials Number from 2019-20 handy, as it will be necessary to input your Officials number in order to be able to register at the appropriate level.
2. Register with USA Hockey for a Seminar
Message to All Southeastern District Officials Registered in 2020-21 and Completed Officials in 2019-20 To All Officials:
This message contains important information regarding the registration of officials and seminars for the 2020-21 Season. Please read the full message and contact your State Supervisor if you have any questions. Thank you for your patience so far. The Covid-19 pandemic has touched all of us and the hockey community is no different. The District Officiating Program has been working with the USA Hockey National Officiating Program to develop methods for conducting seminars in a Virtual Meeting environment. We are still working out some details and providing training to those who will be guiding these Virtual Seminars. Seminar schedules are being developed based on that information and should be available shortly. Check our website, southeastrefs.org, for the latest information. There will be a combination of In-Person and Virtual seminars. In-Person seminars will depend on local conditions and restrictions for holding group meetings. It may also be affected by the availability of meeting space and instructors. No officials will be required to attend an In-Person seminar, it is up to the official to decide between attending a Virtual or In-Person seminar. Some important notes: 1. There is really no change to the overall registration requirements.
Officials must:
a. Register with USA Hockey
b. Register for and attend a Seminar at the registration level they selected in step a.
c. Complete an online open book exam
d. Complete the online seminar modules
e. Levels 2, 3, and 4 must complete a closed book exam. For this season all the closed book exams will be given online. Further details are below.
f. All officials who will be 17 or older by December 31, 2020 must take the required SafeSport training. This will be an annual requirement. If you took the core training last season the system will automatically provide you with a refresher instead of the full course. Further Information is available on southeastrefs.org, go to “Referee Info > Safesport”.
g. Background Screening is required of all officials who were 18 years old or older on June 1, 2020. Officials who were screened during the 2019-20 season do not need to be screened this season. Screening will be required every 2 years and will be administered directly by USA Hockey. It is no longer administered by the District. Further Information is available on southeastrefs.org, go to “Referee Info > Safesport”. Note, this includes officials registered in Florida. More information will be given in the seminars.
h. Returning officials must complete all the requirements by November 30th. Up until that date you can continue to officiate games using your 2019-20 registration. After that date you must have a complete 2020-21 registration.
i. All officials must complete all registration requirements by March 1, 2021. After that date, the USA Hockey registration system is closed for the season and new information is not accepted. If you miss the November 30th date you still have an opportunity to complete your registration up to March 1, 2021 assuming that there are seminars available to attend and you complete all tests, online seminars, SafeSport and background screening. If you have not completed all the registration requirements by that time you will be marked as incomplete and will not receive a card and crest. 2. All Closed Book Exams will be given online at the conclusion of the official’s attendance at a seminar. This will be true whether you attend a Virtual or an In-Person seminar. More details below. 3. There will be no skating test at the Level 4 Seminars, even if held In-Person. The Officiating Program has waived that Level 4 requirement for this season. Those registering for Level 4 must still complete the remaining Level 4 requirements. 4. Those officials who achieved Tenure at Level 3 last season and apply for Level 4 this season must still complete the remaining Level 4 requirements, including the Level 4 seminar and closed book exams. The USA Hockey system may show you complete but you really are not until you complete those requirements. Software system was not updated to handle this situation.
Virtual Seminars Most of the seminars in our District will be held in a Virtual environment using the Zoom Conferencing System. Further instructions will be provided when you register for a Virtual Seminar. The seminars will clearly be marked as Virtual. Most will be in the range of 2½ to 3 hours long. When attending a Virtual Seminar, you should use a computer or tablet. Cell phones will not allow the attendee to fully see what will be presented. Contact your State Supervisor if you have an issue with computer/tablet availability. You will be expected to attend the entire seminar. Meeting attendance and participation will be monitored and logged. You will put your attendance credit in jeopardy if you are not present during the entire Virtual seminar. You can attend any Virtual seminar scheduled in the District as long as it is listed for your registration level. The maximum number of seats at each Virtual Seminar will be kept low enough to be practical in that environment. If your first choice fills up you should be able to find another, even if it is in a different location than usual, even a different State. Virtual Seminars for new Level 1 officials will require more time, up to 5 hours. Because of that they will either be done in two separate Zoom meetings or one meeting with a significant time break somewhere in the middle. There will be NO WALK UP’s allowed at the Virtual Seminars. The attendance must be coordinated between both the Seminar Registration System and Zoom Conference System. Walk up registrations would just complicate matters and lead to potential errors. Closed Book Exams Levels 2, 3, and 4 still include a requirement for a closed book exam. Since most of the seminars will be Virtual it would be impractical to try to administer the exam during the seminar. Therefore, all closed book exams will be given online using the same system as the open book exam and online seminar modules.
Once the seminar is closed in the Seminar Registration System each attendee will receive an email from the USA Hockey system stating that the Exam is ready to be taken and will contain a link for the Closed Book exam. The exam must be taken within 7 days of the seminar being closed. Failure to complete the Closed Book exam within the 7-day period will result in your being marked as failing the exam and your level will be dropped accordingly. Normally the exams would be taken at the seminar, this just gives a little leeway for the official to take the exam. We are striving for each seminar to be closed within 24 – 48 hours after the seminar concludes. That gives us time to process the attendance and update the Seminar Registration System. Once you start the Closed Book Exam you must complete it in a single session with a time limit of 3 hours. You cannot print the exam nor can you log off in the middle and come back to it. This is as close as we can get to duplicating what normally happens at a closed book exam taken during In-Person seminars. No Closed Book exams will be given at In-Person seminars. All will be online, which means that all of you will be on the honor system. We expect you to respect the purpose of the Closed Book exams and take them without your rule book.
- If you have problems registering for a seminar online (this may happen with refs under 13 years old), click the “CONTACT INSTRUCTOR” button on the USAH Seminar Catalog page.
3. Take Online Education Modules
- Once registered with USA Hockey, you will receive instructions regarding the online Officiating Education module program.
- The Online Education modules are a mixture of required and elective-menu topics that teach fundamental skills of officiating using video examples, animation, and knowledge-based testing.
- All officials must complete all course categories to complete training and receive your card and crest. Note: A list of all module categories will be listed at the main Courses page in the Online Education System.
4. Take the Open Book Exam Online
- The exam is designed so that you can go at your own pace.
- Although the exam will be accessible 24 hours after membership registration, we strongly encourage you to wait until you receive your Rulebook and attend your Seminar before attempting to take the test – especially Level 1 officials.
5. Take the Closed Book Exam at your Seminar
- Required for all Level 2, Level 3 & Level 4 applicants.
- Administered at the Seminar.
6. Register with the League where you want to Officiate
7.Attend the Raiders Watch From the Stands Review in Fall (Date TBD)
- Required for:
- All new referees
- All returning referees who did not attend last season.
- All returning referees who attended last season but officiated 5 or less games year.
- Optional for referees who attended last year if there is space available.
- Watch from the Stands is when you learn from senior officials as you watch a game with them and listen to their commentary about the referees on the ice during the game. They will share observations about positioning, skating, judgment and rule knowledge. They will be available to answer your questions and provide a lot of insight into the job of youth hockey officiating.
** 8. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR REFS 2003 AND OLDER:
- SafeSport training program
- This online based program trains coaches, officials, and key volunteers in detecting and preventing detrimental behavior (hazing, abuse, etc.) off the playing surface.
Questions about Raiders Referee Program:
