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Pateman gets call as RBC Cup referee

Linesman Albinati also makes the cut for national tournament
Ward Pateman.png
Prince George’s Ward Pateman is climbing the ranks as a hockey official. – Photo by Vicki Brown/MyLight Photography

Like any hockey player lacing up his skates for his first pro game, Ward Pateman had a bad batch of butterflies stirring up his stomach as he prepared for his American Hockey League debut.

It happened in March in Toronto where the Marlies were playing the Belleville Senators, and Pateman wore neither team’s jersey.

His was black and white, of the striped variety, and the 29-year-old referee from Prince George made his mark that night, landing on the radar of the league that is the direct pipeline to the NHL.

“The first game in Toronto, I’ll never forget that, just being on the ice with those guys,” said Pateman. “It was the classic Toronto-versus-Ottawa rivalry and it was cool to see guys who were names in the NHL prior to that and see some of the younger guys who are coming up.

“The referee I was working with (Furman South) has worked a dozen games in the NHL this season and I felt a little out of place but the guys were awesome. They understood it was my first game and there were some nerves involved with it and that’s why they’re still doing it because they enjoy it as well.”

A talent scout who oversees the AHL’s pool of officials had spotted Pateman last November while he was reffing a couple U Sports games in Moncton, N.B., where he’d been taking part in a Hockey Canada Level 6 seminar. Four months later, Pateman was invited to audition as a referee in two AHL games, one in Toronto and one in Belleville, where the Senators played the Laval Rocket, the Montreal Canadiens’ top farm team.

“It was really exciting to get to that point, definitely a different level of hockey for sure,” said Pateman. “The professionalism of those players and how they work with you and how good they are, it’s crazy. They’re men – they’re big and strong and so fast, and that was the biggest adjustment from the Western League.”

Pateman is back on the ice with whistle in hand this week, one of five referees selected to work the RBC Cup junior A national championship in Chilliwack. It’s his first national championship since he was a referee at the 2010 Allan Cup senior championship in Fort St. John.

“This is definitely one of those tournaments you strive to get to,” said Pateman. “The season starts in September for us too and we all kind of had it circled as a goal for the end of the year to be out here in Chilliwack. So when you get asked to come it’s tough with work and stuff like that, but you can’t say no to it, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing and it’s definitely a feather in your cap.”

This was Pateman’s second season as a WHL referee and he worked about 35 games. The rest of his games were in the BCHL and that included a return to his hometown last month for Game 3 of the final series when the Spruce Kings hosted the Wenatchee Wild in the Fred Page Cup championship series at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.

“I’ve been playing in that arena since I was five years old and when you walk in it still smells the same as it did 30 years ago,” he said. “Seeing that rink full and the top ready to blow off when the Spruce Kings scored, it was cool. It definitely brought chills. Being back home and seeing all that happen in Prince George was really cool to see.”

Pateman got into officiating when he was 13, following the lead of his older brother Reid. Pateman quit playing hockey after his first year of midget and at the time was focused more on his BMX racing, but he stayed involved in the game as a linesman and referee.

In 2010 he moved to Kelowna to pursue his officiating career, working in the off-season as a golf club fitter for TaylorMade Golf. From his base in the Okanagan there were five junior A teams and 10 junior B teams less than a three-hour drive away, which meant plentiful opportunities to work junior games. Instead of working 20 or 25 games if he’d remained in Prince George, he now does about 80 junior games in a season.

“It’s a thankless job and we often are the afterthoughts in the hockey world but it’s something we thrive on, we love it,” said Pateman. “We obviously weren’t very good with sticks in our hands so we took a different route to stay involved in the game. When you get to these events you end up being a big part of the game and it’s more exciting as the games mean something.”

Pateman is not the only P.G. connection among the RBC Cup on-ice officiating crew. Nick Albinati, 23, was born and raised in the city and is part of the all-B.C. group of linesmen along with Jeff MacAdams of Victoria, Brett Mackey of Cloverdale, Jim Plamondon of Kelowna and Devon Sephton of Chilliwack. The other four referees in the tournament are Dexter Rasmussen of Langley, Collin Watt of Edmonton, Trevor Peluk of Winnipeg and Jesse Gour of Montreal.

All are Level 6 officials, the highest level possible in Canada. They receive their game assignments two days before their RBC Cup games and won’t find out until the night before who will get the plum assignment to the four-man crew for Sunday’s championship final.

Pateman said the RBC Cup tournament has created a noticeable buzz in Chilliwack and he’s been impressed with the close game results and high calibre of play.

“It’s pretty cool to see all the work that goes into it,” said Pateman. “One of the linesman here (Sephton) is a local and he works with the city and he says it’s been a gong show just trying to make sure everything’s ready to go and they’ve done a really good job.

“All the teams are really good and were the top teams in their respective leagues and a lot of them have just single-digit losses over the year and just lost a few games in their playoff run. It’s a lot of really good teams that aren’t used to playing in tight games and they’re not used to losing.”

The host Chilliwack Chiefs are back playing again, nine weeks after they were eliminated in the first round of the BCHL playoffs by the Spruce Kings. While the other teams – Wenatchee Wild, Steinbach Pistons, Wellington Dukes and Ottawa Jr. Senators – had to keep winning series to stay alive and qualify for the RBC Cup, the host Chiefs went home for a few weeks, then reconvened in Chilliwack for what amounted to a six-week boot camp to try to regain their playoff intensity.

The Chiefs lost their first game 2-1 in overtime to Wenatchee on Saturday, then beat Ottawa 4-3 in overtime Sunday night. Chilliwack captain Will Calverley scored all four goals for the Chiefs, including the winner 4:55 into OT.

Pateman says officials at the professional level are expected to be as fit and as fast as the players and he spends a lot of time on conditioning. Fifteen years as a BMX racer in Prince George certainly gave him a strong base. He wasn’t told if he will be back in the AHL next season but plans to be in great shape when he attends an NHL officials combine in August in Buffalo, N.Y.

“All the brass from the NHL and AHL officials scouting will be there and it’ll be like a boot camp where they put us through the ringer with fitness testing and on-ice testing,” he said. “You can’t be slow out there, you have to be able to move your feet and not be tired by the end of the game. You’re mentally exhausted and you have to stay focused and not worry about your legs giving out.”