An Abbotsford resident has been honoured for his work with local hockey referees.
Shawn McCaskill, the referee in chief for the Abbotsford Minor Hockey Association, was awarded the officiating development award of excellence by BC Hockey at their annual general meeting in Sun Peaks last weekend.
McCaskill works both on and off the ice with AMHA group of officials, including running classroom sessions, on-ice drills, shadowing and evaluating hundreds of games during the season.
He’s been the RIC for AMHA since the summer of 2013, and has managed to continually grow the group of local referees. There are now approximately 100 referees on the AMHA roster.
“Shawn is an outstanding model of developing young men and women in the community,” said BC Hockey Officiating Development Director and Abbotsford resident Larry Krause.
McCaskill, who also works as an insurance broker, has been a carded official for over 25 years and has officiated at all levels of minor hockey.
From 1992 to 1996, Shawn lined and officiated in the Pacific Junior International League (Junior B), and then was a referee in the British Columbia Hockey League (Junior A) from 1996 to 2002. He then became a BC Hockey supervisor for Junior A and B from 2002 to 2010. McCaskill moved on to be the RIC with Kamloops Minor Hockey, and then in 2010 he represented BC at the Hockey Canada seminar to re-write the Officiating Procedures Manual.
After taking a few years off to spend time with his growing family, McCaskill moved into the RIC role with AMHA.
For more information on local hockey officiating, visit abbotsfordminorhockey.ca/refs.
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