By Lasia Kretzel

Sask. referee hits the big ice at Sochi Olympic hockey

Feb 5, 2014 | 8:53 AM

Just as Canada’s Olympic hockey players are making their last-minute preparations for the upcoming Winter Games, so too are the officials who will join them on the ice.

Among the 28 officials – 14 referees and linesmen – set to don the zebra shirts during the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, is NHL official Brad Meier. The former Saskatoon resident said the chance to referee an Olympic game and travel to another country is nothing short of exhilarating, but there are a lot of unknowns.

“It’s kind of intriguing not knowing exactly what the facilities, the accommodations or travel are going to be like,” Meier said.

“It’s going to be certainly as unique an experience that anybody could expect as far as the Olympics go.”

Meier was born in Dayton, Ohio but Saskatoon has been home since he was nine years old. Both his parents were raised on the Prairies and his father played semi-pro hockey in United States for four years before moving the family back home.

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That’s when Meier and his brother strapped on their own skates and started playing. But the calling of the referee took Meier at an early age.

“I started refereeing when I was 12. It was sort of a fluky thing,” Meier said.

“We were at one of my brother’s game and the referee didn’t show up. I had my skates in the car so I went and did it and though ‘Oh I like this.’ Plus I made four dollars so I thought I was king of the world.”

From there, Meier said he was hooked.

“When I first started I liked it because it was extra ice time, even the days I wasn’t playing I was on the ice. It was a sense of accomplishment and it was rewarding when you did a game and you had the coaches say good game,” he said.

Although he hung up his hockey stick in university, the official jobs helped pay his way through the University of Saskatchewan. When Meier finished school and started at the Saskatoon fire department he continued to referee on his days off in the Western League and the now defunct International Hockey League.

In 1998, the national league approached him with a contract and that same winter he travelled to Nagano, Japan for the Olympics as amateur referee. By 2000 he was working full time with the NHL. With everything from the American league, to the west coast hockey league under his belt, Meier said the travel does take its toll.

“Though I live in Calgary I might only work four games in Calgary and the other 70 games are throughout the league,” Meier said, but added he enjoys two months of the off-season with his family at their cabin in Saskatchewan.

With one winter Olympic Games under his belt, Meier said Sochi will present new challenges but also new opportunities.

He said unlike the ever-changing NHL regulations, international rules have remained relatively unchanged but the larger ice surface will take some getting used to. It will also take a couple days to learn to work with the other officials from countries all over the world.

“Most of the guys have a little bit of English.. It’s funny, it always seems to work itself out. There’s somebody that can talk to somebody if you can’t get through to them,” the English-only Meier said.

As for Russia’s recent turmoil and protests and the Canadian government’s recommendation to avoid Sochi, Meier said it’s important to be aware of potential dangers but not dwell on them.

“You want to ensure you enjoy the experience for what it is,” he said, adding he hopes to take in more of the host country than he did in Japan.

Meier and 12 other NHL officials and linesmen take off for Sochi on Feb. 9. 

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