WCHA's Mike Schmitt, HEA's Jeff Bunyon to Travel

WCHA, Hockey East to Swap Top Officials

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Oct. 26, 2001

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MADISON, Wisc. - Prompted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and the Hockey East Association have come to an agreement to exchange high-rated referees on a limited basis during the 2001-02 season.

Experimenting with this new arrangement, Hockey East's Jeff Bunyon will be officiating both Colgate vs Minnesota games this weekend (Oct. 26-27) at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. WCHA official Mike Schmitt, meanhile, will travel East in late November to referee two contests, Clarkson at Northeastern on Friday, Nov. 23, and Cornell at Boston University on Saturday, Nov. 24.

"This is something we have been hoping to do for awhile," said Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna, who also serves as Chair of the NCAA Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Rules Committee. "We wanted top officials who have a good chance to work the NCAA Tournament. This gives them a chance to become familiar outside their normal areas and to ensure that we will have a national crew of officials working the same game with the same rule book."

"It will be a good thing for the officials to get a feel for the nuances of the different leagues," said WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod. "Much of the credit for this arrangement should go to our two supervisors, Greg Shepherd (WCHA) and Brendan Sheehy (Hockey East). They have a good working relationship."

All the games in the arrangement involve three leagues. In Minneapolis, a Hockey East referee will officiate a WCHA vs ECAC game. Next month, a WCHA official will oversee a Hockey East vs ECAC game. Local assistant referees will be used at each site. Mike Schmitt, from Minot, N.D., has more than a dozen years of experience in the WCHA. As one of the nation's top officials, Schmitt has worked a number of NCAA championships, including last April's Frozen Four final between North Dakota and Boston College in Albany, N.Y., and the 1998 Boston College vs Michigan title game in Boston, Mass.

Bunyon, in his 12th year as a Hockey East official, is a native of Belmont, Mass. He is one of the top-ranked officials in that league and has worked numerous Hockey East and Beanpot championship games.

Both conferences would consider expanding this program in the future and there are talks currently going on between the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) along the same lines.