Hockey Finder Officials

Certifications and Requirements

Hockey Finder referees must have either completed a minimum/equivalent USA Hockey Official Level 1 certification or have attended a Hockey Finder Official Seminar. Hockey Finder seminars are conducted periodically as needed.

Referees must wear a helmet with chin strap properly fastened. Referees who have officiated five Hockey Finder games will be issued a free Hockey Finder referee jersey. Please email league administrators your jersey size, preferred jersey number, and name (typically your last name or nickname) after your fifth game officiated to info@hockeyfinder.com and we’ll order you a jersey.

USA Hockey crest/patches should NOT be worn when officiating Hockey Finder games.

Schedules and Expectations

Our top priority is to support our culture of being fun, friendly, and social. We prefer to have two referees per game to support each other and improve overall officiating. We do our best to offer back-to-back games, but it is not always possible due to inherent scheduling conflicts with arenas.

We allow referees access to our schedule to sign up for games as they see fit. Referees may remove themselves from a game within 48 hours of game start. While we understand schedules change and emergencies arise, we fully expect our referees to either follow through with their commitment, or find an appropriate replacement. Referees who need to cancel within 48 hours of game time must contact a Hockey Finder administrator to make the formal change to the schedule. Referees who fail to show up for a scheduled game, or routinely drop games from their schedule, may have future games removed, be suspended, or face expulsion. Communication is critical - we would much rather have you notify us of last minute schedule conflicts than to “no-show” for a game!

HOW TO… Assign yourself to games

Details on creating an account, assigning yourself to games, and more can be found at www.hockeyfinder.com/tour/referee-tools.

HOW TO… View upcoming games

You can view all games to which you are assigned by logging into your Hockey Finder User account and going to your My Games page. Then, look under the “Referee” section.

Compensation

Hockey Finder requires all referees to submit a completed W-9 to receive payment. You will not be paid until you have submitted a completed W-9! They can be found at: www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

Alternatively, you may be asked to complete an online Intuit (QuickBooks) profile to enter your personal information. We use QuickBooks accounting software, and entering your information directly into the system is the safest and most convenient method.

All games are 60 minutes. Pay will be based on working games with/without a partner and working single or back-to-back games. You can view payment history by logging into your account and going to “My Account” and clicking on the “Referee Payments” link.

We issue payments twice per month - approximately on the 15th and last day of the month. If you’d like to set up Direct Deposit either send us a Voided check or provide us with your checking account and routing number. We will send an IRS Form 1099 to any referee who receives more than $600 in a calendar year.

Guidelines for Managing Ice Time

Referees must be on the ice at the start of our scheduled ice time. While players or goalies may assist, referees are primarily responsible for ensuring the nets are correctly positioned.

After setting the nets, please ensure the game clock is set to 18 minutes and be ready to start the game at the end of the 4-minute warm-up period. Start the clock as soon as the warm-up is completed, and aim to drop the puck as close to the 17-minute mark as possible.

Game Timing

• Each game consists of a 4:00 minute warm-up period, followed by 17:00 minute periods with 1:00 minute breaks in between.
• The game clock should consistently start at 18:00 minutes at the beginning of each period, ensuring the puck is dropped promptly at the 17:00 mark. Referees are responsible for enforcing these timing rules.

Rules

Make sure you review and understand our rules at www.hockeyfinder.com/leaguerules. Hockey Finder follows USA Hockey rules with the following exceptions:

• Blue line icing.
• No Slapshots - the hockey stick may not break a horizontal plane. No faking a slapshot. Either offense results in a whistle and faceoff in the offending player’s defensive zone.
• Face-offs only at the 9 dots, nearest spot to the same zone that the puck was last played from.
  • In a situation where the puck goes out of play during game action in the offensive zone, the ensuing faceoff will now remain in that zone, regardless of whether a player from the attacking team or the defending team was the last to touch the puck.
• End-zone faceoffs for penalties.
• It doesn't happen very often, but if there's a blown icing call, restart at center ice instead of all the way down.

We have a zero tolerance policy for fighting. Any player involved in a fight will automatically be ejected from the game and removed from the League. Please email info@hockeyfinder.com whenever a player receives 3 or more penalties in one game.

Uniform and Scoreboard Consistency

To maintain consistency among officials and prevent confusion, it is recommended that the home team wear white jerseys while the visiting team wears green jerseys. This practice should also be followed when updating the scoreboard to reflect the home team as white and the guest team as green.

All players must be wearing an approved Hockey Finder league jersey, with an exception only for substitute goalies. Please communicate with the Team Captain if a player is not wearing an approved jersey. They will work with the opposing Team Captain to get the player a jersey.

These rules and guidelines are in place to ensure fair and organized games, as well as to maintain consistency among officials, players, and the host rink. We have also communicated these expectations to the players so they can be prepared to start the game promptly.