What started as a recommendation from coaches turned into a passion for a Salmon Arm hockey player.
Nic Barbosa moved to Salmon Arm from Terrace when he was eight.
As a youngster he loved playing hockey and was always at the rink. His coaches suggested he look into refereeing.
âMy coaches said it would be a good thing to do, to know the rules â and I kind of fell in love with it.â
So, at 12, Barbosa began his refereeing career. He liked communicating with the teams, knowing all the rules, building confidence.
Now 20, the love continues.
Barbosa was recently presented with âmost dedicated refereeâ honours by the Salmon Arm Minor Hockey Association.
âIt was a lot of games,â he laughs, estimating he reffed somewhere around 200 games in 2022.
He said thereâs no set number but he does âas many as you can do on weekends. I was there for eight hours a day, Friday to Sunday â and then repeat. It was good, though. I liked it.â
He said the money is good and if youâre doing a lot of games, it adds up.
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Itâs hard to get referees for more competitive hockey, he points out, and although there are lots of first- and second-year referees, they canât ref the higher levels.
When he was 15 or 16, he started reffing midget hockey, 17/18 year olds.
For a referee, confidence is key.
âIf you arenât confident, youâre going to get yelled at by parents,â he emphasizes. âYou need to be confident, have enthusiasm, you need to know your stuff on the ice.â
He said loud insults got to him a bit in his first couple of years, but not much anymore.
âYouâre having 100, 200 fans yelling at you, coaches, wanting to talk to you when youâre 13, 14. But now that I know the rules and everything, I feel Iâm pretty confident with all that.â
Senior officials mentor and provide support, which he said helps a lot.
Asked about injuries, he said referees definitely get sore, sometimes from taking pucks without a lot of padding, âslap shots from big kids.â
Heâs also seen a few referees take pucks to the head or get a skate blade to the hand.
âI havenât had anything too serious, knock on wood.â
Regarding fights in hockey, he said there will be the odd scrum in front of the net, or the odd person starting to throw punches, but linespeople break them up quickly.
Barbosa recently reffed the U16 BC Cup in Salmon Arm, the WHL (Western Hockey League) prospects camp for draft picks for the coming year.
âIt was a good experience; I want to be able to ref junior hockey next year. Then maybe go further in the coming years.â
About going beyond junior hockey, he remarked: âItâs very hard to do, but I would hope to. If I got the opportunity I would surely go for it.â
Barbosa just wrapped up his first year of a business administration degree and will be heading to Âé¶čAV next year for his second year.
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Meanwhile, he recommends refereeing â100 per cent.â
âI feel like itâs a good life skill to go with, the confidence part of things, learning how to talk to coaches that are older than you, calming people down on the ice, I feel itâs a very good life skill.â
As a hockey fan from childhood, he was raised cheering for the Edmonton Oilers.
One referee he likes to watch in the NHL is Wes McCauley.
âHe seems like a good guy,â says Barbosa, pointing out as an example that when McCauley calls a person for fighting, instead of the usual signal he might do some quick air-boxing with his fists.
âHe has a reputation to be one of the funnier refs out there for sure.â
Barbosa speaks extremely highly of his hometown.
âSalmon Arm is a great place to ref in. I feel itâs the best hockey town in Canada right now.â
He points to the good setup in the city, with kids coming from all over B.C. for the BC Cup, for example.
âThey just love it, they do it every year in Salmon Arm just because they feel itâs a great place to do it in⊠Itâs a hockey town.â
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martha.wickett@saobserver.net
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