Before you know where you are going, you need to know where you came from.

By Peter Caggiano

A little history lesson. Our NIHOA chapter was formed and registered way back in 1957,
before all of you were even born (yes, I know the are 5 of us that precede that year).

There were the founding fathers of the chapter, most notably Paul McInnis and Vin
Godleski. Together with the 1960’s recruits, (Joe Hanabach, Dave Sloan, John Warchol,
John Oswald, Tony DelTufo, Mike Nardelo) they became the core of the chapter.

I first became exposed to the Metro NY NJ chapter back in the late 60s as a player at
Essex Catholic HS in Newark. Back then HS hockey in NJ was played in only 2 rinks, Branch Brook Ice Center (no longer operational) in Newark and South Mountain Arena (now Cody Arena) in West Orange. The one outlier was the Ocean Ice Palace in Bricktown.

It was a different game back then. The National Federation of High School sports has not yet been established. High School rules followed NCAA rule book. Some of the
strange rules included: no center red line. Icing occurred when the puck was shot down
from behind your defending blue line. But most baffling by today’s practice of play, was
that an attacking player could not body check in the attacking zone.

Much like today, you must be invited to take the test and be voted by the members in
order to join the chapter. As mentioned, the test was the NCAA rules and it was a
closed book test. Unlike today, you were not given a book to study from for the test.
There was no internet or hockey rule books in the library. You had to rely on the
generosity and compassion of a NIHOA official to lend you their book. Otherwise, you
were almost doomed to fail. For me it was Norm Kelly who was kind enough to give me
his rule book.

When I got in the chapter in 1977, the fee for a HS varsity game was $17.50. It quickly
shot up to $22.50. Granted there were only 14 teams back then, a first-year guy was
lucky to get 3 games a MONTH. And for my first two years, anytime I worked a game
with one of the above-mentioned guys, I chased, picked up, and dropped every puck
and faceoff. It was my initiation into the most elite officiating chapter in the state.

I mention all of this because I am proud to say I was a member for 42 years and
accolades need to be given to those who came before you. With out their efforts and
dedication, you would not be receiving the pay or recognition bestowed on all chapter
members today.

The next article will address what to expect when officiating a game that is being
broadcasted or live streamed.