Today's Tulsa World newspaper looks at the very grueling officiating career of CHL referee -- and onetime Brockport hockey player -- Kevin Graber. It offers an hour by hour account of his day and this bio...
Kevin Graber, 28, is a native of Troy, N.Y., who officiated his first hockey game at the age of 12.
“My father said to me, ‘you’re around the rink all the time, so you might as well do something,’ and that’s how I got started,” Graber said.
Graber didn’t focus on officiating, however, until completing his collegiate hockey playing career in 2003 at Brockport (N.Y.), where he studied sports management. He then entered USA Hockey’s officiating Development Program and joined the CHL staff for the 2008-09 season.
Part of his inspiration to become a pro hockey official came when another Troy resident, Tony Sericolo, reached the NHL as a linesman in 1998.
During the offseason, he works on a golf course grounds crew in Clifton Park, N.Y.
“My father said to me, ‘you’re around the rink all the time, so you might as well do something,’ and that’s how I got started,” Graber said.
Graber didn’t focus on officiating, however, until completing his collegiate hockey playing career in 2003 at Brockport (N.Y.), where he studied sports management. He then entered USA Hockey’s officiating Development Program and joined the CHL staff for the 2008-09 season.
Part of his inspiration to become a pro hockey official came when another Troy resident, Tony Sericolo, reached the NHL as a linesman in 1998.
During the offseason, he works on a golf course grounds crew in Clifton Park, N.Y.
Read more from this Tulsa World article at:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=409&articleid=20100303_29_B1_Agruel619755&rss_lnk=1
