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USA Hockey ODP graduates assigned to Paralympic Winter Games
By Phil Brand
Feb 24, 2010 - 4:06:36 AM

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Four former full time members of USA Hockey’s Officiating Development Program (ODP), who currently work at the collegiate and minor pro levels of hockey, have been chosen to work as on-ice officials in the upcoming Paralympics Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.  They will be working the Sledge Ice Hockey competition which opens in Vancouver on March 12. Teams are participating from eight nations including the United States and Canada. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Winter Games is sponsoring the 10^th Paralympics Winter Games.

Derek Berkebile ( Allen Park, Mich.) and Scott Bokal ( St. Louis, Mo.), Johnathan Morrison ( Mason City, Iowa) and Brad Roethlisberger ( Green Bay, Wis.) will be representing USA Hockey and the International Paralympics Committee as on-ice officials for the Sledge Ice Hockey Games.  This will be the second Paralympics Winter games for Bokal and Morrison. They both worked the 2006 Gold Medal Game in Torino, Italy.  

Berkebile, Bokal, Morrison and Roethlisberger are experienced officials who began their early development in the ODP working games in the junior leagues such as the Minnesota Junior Hockey League, the North American Hockey League and the tier-one United States Hockey League. More recently they have been working at the collegiate, professional and international levels of ice hockey.   

Roethlisberger for example is a linesman in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while Bokal works as pro hockey official in the American Hockey League, the International Hockey League and the Southern Professional Hockey League. He has also worked a number of events sponsored by the International Ice Hockey Federation the world sanctioning body for international competition. Berkebile and Morrison have similar resumes.

Sledge Ice Hockey was designed to enable participants who have physical disabilities to play ice hockey using modified equipment. Participants sit on sleds designed specifically for playing ice hockey. Players propel themselves with shortened hockey sticks. One end of the stick is modified to help players gain traction and speed on the ice while the other end has a blade for shooting. While there are some rule modifications, game rules are generally similar to other forms of ice hockey.

Johnathan Morrison expressed excitement to be chosen to work his second tournament. “I have had a lot of opportunities including my initial inclusion in the ODP and across the USA at other levels of the sport. However, I have had no more memorable experience than the recognition and personal reward of working the Paralympics Winter Games.”

Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com