By Ross Forman
The hockey action wasn’t just intense and exciting on the ice November 8 when the annual Bauer World Invite circled around the area. The Illinois Special Olympics, also that Saturday held its State Floor Hockey at Northeastern Illinois University, one of nine state sports competitions.
Many area ice officials volunteered their time to referee the games in their standard black and white striped jerseys, of course.
“Your participation, talent and dedication made (the) tournament/event for the Illinois Special Olympics a huge success,” said referee Jack Raslawski, who was joined at the event by his brother (Jon) and other family referees. “It’s all about the athletes and the game (and) I couldn’t be prouder of you guys and your dedication.”
This was the sixth year that IHOA has supplied officials for this Special Olympics event. Every game had two officials assigned.
The referees who volunteered their time for Special Olympics were Ed Belliveau, Christian Catalano, Chris Drews, Steve Drews, Ali Griffin, Mark Hroma, Tom Hughes, Tommy Kempf, Michael Liberty, Ted Machnik, Mike Novelle, Miranda Novelle, Tony Provo, Fagan Raslawski, Jack Raslawski, Jon Raslawski, Sabina Raslawski, and Patrick Van Ermen.
Ross Forman has written about Illinois high school hockey for more than 15 years, and is the only sportswriter to have covered Illinois High School hockey every year during that stretch. He played locally and then at Indiana University before becoming a referee. Ross was a referee for the State Championship game several years ago at the United Center. Contact Ross by email at Rossco814@aol.com.
Categories: Hockey Headlines, Officials