To become a Level One on-ice official, all he was required to do was attend a one-day clinic offered locally and write an exam afterward.

Once he’d done that, he was qualified to line or referee games involving hockey players younger than himself.

“You don’t even need to pass the exam at that level,” he notes. “You just need to write it.” (Whenever possible, first year officials are paired with more experienced referees.)

The equipment he needed was minimal, too. An on-ice official needs a pair of black skates with white laces, a black CSA approved helmet with an approved visor rather than the full cage players are required to wear, a pair of black pants and a metal finger grip whistle, an athletic cup and shin and elbow pads. The Burns Lake Minor Hockey Association supplies jerseys which Bill used when he first started.

Bill continued to referee while playing hockey on and off. It wasn’t until he reached the Bantam level that he realized he actually preferred refereeing. He quit hockey and focused on officiating.

Each year, he was required to attend a one-day clinic and write an exam. Although the questions became increasingly complex as he reached the higher levels of officiating, Bill says the exams actually got easier the more he wrote them because the material was more familiar. However, there are currently 88 rules in use for minor hockey and the workbook for junior referees contains 61 pages. The official rule book, given to each referee, has over 130 pages.