Empire-Advance

    One thing I did when I was nearing the end of my officiating career was evaluate other officials.The things I looked for were positioning, control of faceoffs, penalty selection and anticipating what may happen on any particular play. I did not worry about their skating ability unless it meant moving up another level.
   Cory Flecknor was a really good upcoming  official. He knew the rule book and had played the game so his anticipation of what may happen on any play was excellent. His positioning was great and he was a strong skater. It was a pleasure working with Cory. Cory also communicated with the players on the ice very well. When I evaluated Cory he always checked out all the boxes.
   One day it was Perry Kalynuk and Dave Preston who were going to be evaluated.You always spoke before the game to those you would be evaluating.
   Perry always had a way with words and when I told him I was evaluating him Perry said, “Ger, I just want you to know I am not on my way up as an official, I am on my way out! What do you say to that?” Thank you Snipes for putting a smile on my face again today, what a happy memory!
   Dave Preston was an  individual who I worked a lot of games with, Dave was easy to work with so as a team we worked well together. Dave had played senior hockey and knew the game really well. Dave always said, “Well let’s get this show on the road,” meaning let us get this game going.
   Another guy I had lots of fun with and liked working with was Ray Harper. Ray had played senior hockey in Kenton. His brother Ron had also played in Kenton. The Kenton guys nickname for Ron was Box. For Ray it was Parcel! When I showed up in Virden no one knew that I called Ray, Parcel! It stuck with him. One of Rays favourite sayings before we left the dressing room was from Hill Street Blues, “Boys let us be careful out there!”
   Perry and David were two of the nicest guys and were really good officials. Rest in peace my friends, you, left your mark in this world. Enjoy hockey heaven, you deserve it. With one a school teacher and the other a banker, that was pretty much working with the top of the food chain. It did not get much better than  working with those two. I have lost contact with Ray, I do not know where he is, but if you see this Ray, I enjoyed working with you very much!  All 3 men made officiating so much fun.