Former Vegreville Resident and Long-time Hockey Official Earns Prestigious Award

Former Vegreville Resident and Long-time Hockey Official Earns Prestigious Award

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

Former Vegreville resident Dean Ziegler has dedicated more than three decades involved in the sport of hockey as a referee and he was recently recognized for his outstanding dedication and contribution to the Hockey Alberta Officials Committee.

Ziegler was presented the Ernie Boruk Award by Ernie Boruk himself on Nov. 21 in Edmonton. “I have always looked up to Ernie due to everything he has done to make things better for the Hockey Alberta officials,” said Ziegler.

He recalled, “I first got into officiation hockey games because my dad was an official when I was growing up. I attended my first referee clinic in 1970 when I was 12 years of age in the Vegreville arena in a dressing room with Dave Baron, Willy Walaniuk, Ralph Casher, Zony Cyba and my father, Dave Ziegler.”

Growing up in Vegreville, Dean officiated minor hockey games as well as played the sport of hockey. He ended his playing career with the Vegreville Rangers Jr. B team.

He moved to Edmonton in 1976 to start a new chapter in his life and then moved to St. Albert five years ago to raise a family. Even though he had to briefly pause his officiating career, he returned to the ice in 1988 working minor hockey games in St. Albert for Tony Chieco and Norm Douzzech. In 1998, he became St. Albert’s Referee-in-Chief, and held that position until 2003.

In 2000, Dean was part of a group of Referees-inChief from across Canada that designed the Hockey Canada Mentorship and Shadow program and he was instrumental in designing a referee game report form for officials that made it easier for officials to write their game reports. It later adopted for use by Hockey Alberta and used throughout minor hockey.

He developed an assigning program known as RAMP and gave the rights to his program to the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association and their referees.

In 2008, he became part of the Provincial group responsible for Hockey Alberta referee clinics. He was introduced to the responsibilities of conducting a leadership clinic for instructors and later developed modules and ideas to help instructors throughout the Alberta.

Ernie Boruk, left, presents award to Dean Ziegler.

(Ziegler Family/Submitted Photo)

For the past 20 years, Dean has been involved at the executive level in the region. He currently holds the position of Clinic Coordinator. He coordinates between 60 and 70 clinics each year through the Hockey Canada Registry program.

There were many highlights for Ziegler, one of which was officiating during the Alberta Winter Games in 2000. Another highlight was officiating the St. Albert Bantam AAA Tournament, including the gold medal game in 1997.

He received the Hockey Alberta Referee Council Award and the Dave Ganley Award in 2013. He was previously recognized by the North Region with the Supervision Award in 2004, the Chairman’s Award in 2007 and the Ron Panchyshyn Award in 2012.

I really enjoyed officiating as an official, as I had the best seat in the arena, and I got to learn more about the game every time I put on my skates and uniform. I took time off for about 10 years after my playing days but picked it back up again in 1988 and have been doing it ever since. I retired in 2002 but continued on as a clinic instructor and continue today. I have been an official now for 34 years and will continue on for as long as I can.”