For the first time a local hockey referee has made it into the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL).
Keenan Hall was born and raised in Drayton Valley. He played minor hockey as a boy, but around the age of 11 he wanted to see what it was like on the other side of the fence.
“It was also to stay with the game after I finished playing hockey,” says Hall.
When Hall reached the highest level that Drayton Valley Minor Hockey had to offer, he decided to try for the next level.
“I decided I wanted to do better and tried to reach higher goals, which meant officiating and travelling outside of Drayton to do hockey,” says Hall.
One of the challenges Hall faced was the fact that he came from a small town. Many of the places he attended were unaware of the calibre of this talent. He said trying to get his foot in the door for hockey outside of Drayton was a big struggle.
It wasn’t until he was invited to a couple of showcases in Edmonton that he was able to be taken seriously.
He says while growing up in Drayton he spent a lot of time at the Omniplex, either playing the sport or watching the Drayton Valley Thunder play. It was a dream of his to one day be able to officiate a game for the team.
That dream has now come to reality. He was asked to join the AJHL in the 21/22 hockey season at the age of 19, which is the youngest official in the league.
Hall says he is a full-time ref, but still has to work a regular job. But as a ref, he has been able to travel all over Alberta. “Usually we stay around her mostly,” says Hall, “but you do see some games up in Fort McMurray.”
For Hall, the AJHL isn’t the end goal. He’s now looking toward the Western Hockey League (WHL).
One of the challenges of being a ref is maintaining the physical endurance for a game. The officials are on the ice for the entirety of the game. Hall says the four official system, which allows for four refs on the ice, makes it easier for the refs because they don’t have as much skating to do.
Hall says he works out all the time, focusing a lot on cardio so he can keep up with the players. The WHL will require more of the same, as some of those teams are playing a higher level of hockey.
Training as an official is a solitary event, says Hall. There are no groups for the refs, they each work out and look after their own regimen.
“Some officials do their own power skating on and off ice, more or less,” says Hall.
Each ref also has to have all of the rules for the game memorized. “There are a lot of them,” says Hall.
When it comes to being on the ice and dealing with two teams, Hall says he eventually grew a tough skin. He says there is no way to please everyone when he’s the ref, and he’s now able to leave any comments or hard feelings at the rink.
“When you first start, someone says something and you take it home. At this point, I don’t,” he says.
Hall says the thing he enjoys most about being an official is that it’s a challenge for each game. “You can’t just slough off on one game,” he says. “You have to stay focused for each game.”
