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Hey Ref- Minnesota Hockey Officials Association Banquet

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Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31

 

 

By Duncan Ryhorchuk

 

The Minnesota Hockey Officials Association held a "Founders Banquet" this past August at the Canterbury Inn. Mike Mooney, Supervisor of Officials for District 5, and Dennis Alm, Supervisor of Officials for District 1 organized this "as needed" event.

It was an excellent time to schedule the banquet for three main reasons: 1) it fell on the same weekend as the MHOA Board fall meetings; 2) it was on the same date and in the same area as the Zebra Open golf tournament (which I will further detail in another Hey Ref article); and 3) our association has three members that needed to be recognized for their service to MHOA. The first two obliviously help with travel and scheduling logistics; but really it is the third reason that was the focus for this banquet to be held.

The three honorees were Paul Moen, Buzz Olson and Skip Trumble. Paul and Buzz each have 28 years of service and Skip has 25 years. Technically speaking Paul and Buzz were two of the main founders of MHOA. And arguably, Skip was not at the first meetings of MHOA, but his leadership in the early years helped to form and establish the association.

At the event there were over 60 attendees which included two former Olympic and numerous NCAA Division I officials. The audience was entertained with comedy-laced, remember-when and amazing-fact speeches about each honoree by Steve Tatro, Minnesota Referee in Chief and Eric Olson, president of MHOA. Tatro and Olson then presented each honoree with their award plaques.

But without a doubt the highlight for the majority of the attendees and I believe for the honorees as well was when their sons, who are all very established MHOA members and officials in their own right, introduced each one. Paul Moen's son, Jared, Buzz Olson's son, J.B., and Skip Trumble's son, Mike, are all very established officials.

With the hope of not become complacent, Mike revealed that there is not another banquet on the schedule yet, but looking to the future, the next honorees would be Steve Tatro and Eric Olson, but that is years away. Thanks go out to Mike and Dennis for the organization of this event and thank you to Paul, Buzz and Skip for their past and continued contributions to MHOA.