Why I Chose the Stripes

Let's face it, the obvious reason is because I was never good enough to play. Sure there are development leagues or whatever, but playing competitively was never in the cards for me. I've always found myself to be a decent enough skater, I just never had the hands, skills, speed, or size to play. That being said I love this game and anything I can do to stay on the ice and be a part of it I'm all for. So, if you add my love + my knowledge, the best answer you get is Official. Sure, I could coach, but this is the best off all sides. I get to skate, teach and continue to learn and grow. I've always felt like there is a ceiling to coaching. (I'm sure all coaches will disagree with me here) Don't get me wrong without coaches there would be no game. Most put in countless hours developing their craft. I'm just saying that I feel like it is a skill that can be perfected. It wasn't the right fit for what I want to do. As an Official I have to constantly change, learn, adapt, and grow. I really can't call any two games the same way, so it is a constant learning experience for me. I'm not even necessarily speaking of rule changes, sure they are a challenge sometimes. I'm speaking more to the side that each team, each matchup is different. I can not take what worked before and apply it to every situation. That doesn't work. That's a quick way to becoming the guy/girl no one wants to see. I'm not trying to badmouth anyone. The point I'm trying to make with that statement is if I decide to go out and call every game the same way  then I paint myself into a corner of expectation. I know what you are going to say, "that's called being consistent". I'm not saying don't call games consistently, we all should. I'm saying that I have to be adaptable. I can't have a rigid, unalterable mindset. There is a difference between consistency and rigidity. What it boils down to is every situation can not be handled the same way. I have to be able to be creative, to think on my feet. Something I used before to defuse a situation may escalate it in another instance. Different people react differently to like situations. I have to be able to read that and adapt accordingly.
Probably the biggest reason I Ref is because of my teammates. I've been part of a lot of teams in my life, but none of them have been anything like my experience as an Official. No matter what, we are always there for each other. I doesn't matter if its covering a game for someone, talking another official through that always lurking tough game, or standing behind us even if we completely blew a call. I'm pretty sure I've referenced this before, but it is very important to me and rings true every time. In one of my first games back my partner knew I was nervous. He looked at me and said "I don't care if you go out there and call a Double Dribble. If you make the call I've got your back, no matter what." That made me realize I wasn't on an island. That we were in it together, good or bad. We were going to be great or be miserable, but we were going to do it as a team. The thing is situations like this are consistent across the board. We all do this for each other. We never throw each other under the bus. If our partner makes a bad call we stand behind him, always. We never turn to players or coaches and tell them our partner blew it. It may be the most brutal blown call in the history of the game, but any of us would be right behind him. We take a lot of crap doing what we do, but the reason I continue to be able to take all of it and put on the stripes game after game is because there is an entire world of others standing right behind me. It's not just my on-ice partners, the guys I work with, but the community that we have built through each other. If you were to go through my followers on Twitter you'd find that probably 65% of them are other Hockey Officials. All of them from different levels of the game and from different countries. Neither of which matters. We are all part of the same team and we are all there for each other. There has been many times several of us have talked out a call or an interpretation through Twitter and most of the time we don't live in the same country. I've never met these guys, but all of them are willing to have my back because we are all teammates.
A lot of people believe that I am drawn to officiating because of my Asperger's. That I love this part of the game because it is about the rules and the order. That there is a designed punishment for each breach of the rules. Having this order makes the world a lot more understandable of a place for me even if it is only 17,000 square feet of it. On the ice I'm able to be me, and I'm, if only in one place in the world, comfortable. Being an Official I am able to bring order and control to, in my eyes, an uncontrollable world. All of this may be true, but I still love my game. I love to be a part of it and as long as my legs can carry me I will be out on the ice wearing the Stripes.