REFEREES

All Referees and Off-Ice Officials must be treated with the upmost respect by all AMHA Coaches, Managers, Players and Parents.

Coaches, and other team officials, players, parents and fans are not permitted in the official’s dressing room, nor are they permitted to confront game officials about the game. Entering the official’s dressing room or confronting an official will be considered abusive behavior.

Coaches, and other team officials, players, parents and fans are not permitted to confront off-ice officials about the game, including the official Time-keeper(s), official Score-keeper(s) and other off-ice officials located in the Time-keeper’s area. Confronting off-ice officials will be considered abusive behavior.

Players and coaches are asked not to use the referees’ room to change. It is recognized that this is not possible in all situations or in all Airdrie arenas. When situations arise where this must occur, please work in a collaborative manner with the referees to deal with the situation at hand.

Scheduling of Referees (Exhibition, Regular Season and Playoffs)

  1. To request referees please contact the Airdrie Referees Association’s Referee Assignor, Nathan Ellard at or call him at 403-274-3005
  2. Please only call Referee Assignor between the hours of 8 am and 9 pm
  3. Requests for referees must be received by the Referee Assignor as soon as possible. Any teams submitting referee requests less than 5 days prior to the date of the game risk not having referees provided. Requests received less than 72 hours prior to the time of the game are subject to last minute assigning fees.
  4. All games that have referees assigned to them will be posted to the Airdrie Referees’ Association website under the heading “This Weeks Games.” This page will be updated Wednesday morning of each week.
  5. It is the responsibility of each team to ensure their scheduled games are listed on the website mentioned above. If games do not appear on the website above, or the game information is incorrect, teams must contact the Referee Assignor immediately.
  6. All teams are responsible for checking the Airdrie Referees’ Association website to ensure their games are listed. The Referee Assignor DOES NOT look for schedules on websites.
  7. Teams must notify the Referee Assignor of any scheduling changes as soon as possible. Scheduling changes less than 72 hours from the start time of a game may be subject to the last minute assigning fees identified in point number 3.
  8. Games cancelled within 24 hours of the scheduled game will be subject to a charge equal to half of the game fee.
  9. Games cancelled without notifying the Airdrie Referees Association will be subject to a charge equal to the full amount of the game fee.
  10. Games cancelled due to weather will not be subject to any cancellation fees.

Referee and Assigning Fees

  1. In alignment with assigning rates established by Hockey Alberta, ALL teams will be invoice a $75 assigning fee. This fee covers the assigning fees associated with all exhibition, regular season and playoff games. Assigning fees associated with last minute requests for referees or tournaments are not included in this fee.
  2. Requests for referees less than 72 hours from the start time of the game will be subject to a $10 last minute assigning fee.
  3. Requests for referees less than 48 hours from the start time of the game will be subject to a $20 last minute assigning fee
  4. The schedule of referee game fees is located at the bottom of this communication.

Payment of Referee and Assigning Fees

  1. All Teams
  2. Referees are NOT to be paid cash under any circumstance.
  3. Teams will be invoiced for, and responsible for paying, the referee assigning fee at the beginning of the season. This fee covers the assigning of all games. This fee must be paid by December 31, 2013.
  4. Payment of referee and assigning invoices is to be placed in the AMHA filing cabinet located at the Rob Ebbesen Arena.
  5. The Airdrie Referees’ Association reserves the right to NOT provide officials to teams that have outstanding and unpaid invoices.
  6. Prior to closing out any team bank accounts at the end of the season, all teams must notifiy AMHA and the Airdrie Referees’ Association to ensure all outstanding invoices and amounts owing are accounted for.
  7. Airdrie Referees’ Association will notify AMHA of any and all outstanding and unpaid invoices.
  8. City League Teams
  9. Teams will be invoiced for, and responsible for paying, referee fees associated with all exhibition games. Invoices are to be paid no more than 5 days after the game has been played.
  10. AMHA will be invoiced for and responsible for paying, referee fees associated with all regular season and play-off games.
  11. Tiered Teams
  12. Teams will be invoiced for, and responsible for paying, referee fees associated with all exhibition games. Invoices are to be paid no more than 5 days after the game has been played.
  13. AMHA will be invoiced for, and responsible for paying, referee fees associated with the first five (5) regular season game for each tiered team. This invoice will be issued to AMHA at the beginning of the season.
  14. Teams will be invoiced for, and responsible for paying, referee fees associated with games beyond what AMHA is responsible for paying.
  15. AA/AAA Teams
  16. Teams will be invoiced for, and responsible for paying, referee fees associated will all games played.

Rules Emphasis for 2013/14 Season

  1. Head Contact
  2. Any contact to the body that starts below the shoulders and moves up to the neck or head will be penalized with a minor penalty for head contact.
  3. Any direct or intentional contact to the neck or head will be penalized with a double minor penalty, or at the discretion of the referee a 5 minute major plus a game misconduct or match penalty, for contact to the head.
  4. Any contact to the head that results in apparent injury will be penalized with a major plus a game misconduct.
  5. For a video clarification of the contact to the head rules emphasis please visit
  6. Checking from behind
  7. Stick penalties - slashing, high sticking, cross-checking, spearing and butt-ending
  8. Hockey Canada has mandated non-body checking in all Peewee hockey.

Referee Complaint Process

Your Responsibility

  1. Let 24 hours pass before writing a complaint
  2. Send the complaint to the Director for the level of hockey in question. In the report:
  3. Please provide as many details as possible
  4. Submit a copy of the game sheet
  5. Submit any copies of any referee reports that resulted from the game in question.

AMHA Responsibility

  1. A The AMHA director will review the complaint. If the complaint warrants further attention, in the opinion of the AMHA league director, it will be forwarded to the AMHA Executive.
  2. The AMHA Executive will review the complaint. If the complaint warrants further attention, in the opinion of the AMHA Executive, if will be forwarded to the Airdrie Referees' Association (ARA) Referee-In-Chief, Corey Halford.

Airdrie Referees’ Association Responsibility

  1. The ARA Referee-In-Chief will instruct the ARA Executive to initiate an internal review of the complaint.
  2. The ARA Executive member charged with investigating the complaint will prepare a written statement outlining the findings of the review any recommendation (e.g. no-action required, fines or other forms of disciplinary action) and provide that statement to the ARA Referee-In-Chief.

NOTE: The review of any complaint, including any findings or disciplinary action, will remain confidential to the ARA as the ARA deals with complaints as internal matters.

  1. In circumstances where the actions or activities are of significance, the ARA Referee-In-Chief may notify the Central Zone Referees' Committee (CZRC) of the complaint and any actions taken at a local level. The CZRC reserves the right to take any other necessary action in regards to the complaint.

Referees for Tournaments

  1. Referees for AMHA tournaments are assigned by the Airdrie Referees’ Association’s Referee Assignor.
  2. The standard assigning rate for tournaments is $10 per game.
  3. Rates for assigning tournaments are determined based on when the final tournament schedule is received by the Referee Assignor
  4. Final tournament schedules received 30 days or more prior to the start of the tournament will benefit from a 40% discount off the standard assigning rate. The resulting assigning rate will be $6 per game
  5. Final tournament schedules received between 15 and 30 days prior to the start of the tournament will benefit from a 25% discount off the standard assigning rate. The resulting assigning rate will be $7.50 per game
  6. Final tournament schedules received less than 15 days prior to the start of the tournament will not benefit from any assigning discounts.
  7. Changes to tournament schedules is to be expected and changes can significantly complicate the assigning process.
  8. Providing any scheduling changes affect less than 10% of the total tournament schedule, no changes to assigning fees will occur.
  9. If the changes impact more than 10% of the total tournament schedule, the tournament assigning fee will be adjusted to match the fee schedule as outlined in 2a, 2b, or 2c above.
  10. In alignment with Hockey Alberta’s policy of referee game fees for tournaments, all tournaments are subject to the playoff rates indicated in the schedule of rates provided below.

Referee Rates Rural Hockey 2013/14 as per Hockey Alberta

Category / Max. League / Rate Split / Playoff / Rate Split
Junior B / 180 / 82-49-49 / 190 / 86-52-52
Junior C / 150 / 68-41-41 / 160 / 72-44-44
Midget AA / 125 / 57-34-34 / 135 / 61-37-37
Midget A, B, C, D, City / 120 / 54-33-33 / 130 / 58-36-36
Midget Female A, B / 100 / 46-27-27 / 110 / 50-30-30
Bantam AAA / 120 / 54-33-33 / 130 / 58-36-36
Bantam AA / 110 / 50-30-30 / 120 / 54-33-33
Bantam A / 105 / 47-29-29 / 115 / 51-32-32
Bantam B, C, D, City / 90 / 40-25-25 / 100 / 46-27-27
Bantam Female A, B / 90 / 40-25-25 / 100 / 46-27-27
Pee Wee AA / 95 / 43-26-26 / 105 / 47-29-29
Pee Wee / 90 / 40-25-25 / 100 / 46-27-27
Atom / 67 / 31-18-18 / 72 / 32-20-20
Novice / 54 / 24-15-15 / 59 / 27-16-16