The ECHL has named the officials for the 2022 Warrior / ECHL All-Star Classic, set for January 17.
Referees Jake Rekucki and Riley Yerkovich will handle the game alongside linesmen Scott Senger and Ben Shiley.
“I would like to congratulate the four officials chosen to represent the ECHL Officiating Team for this year’s All-Star event in Jacksonville,” said ECHL Manager of Officiating Operations Stephen Thomson. “All of their hard work and dedication to the ECHL throughout the many years, and especially for working through last season with all of the unique challenges faced, they all couldn’t be more deserving. The All-Star event is on every officials’ radar and a huge accomplishment for each of them.”
This year’s all-star classic will feature the Jacksonville Icemen facing off against a team of ECHL all-stars in game action and in a skills competition. Each team will also have a player from the Premier Hockey Federation and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.
More on the crew from the ECHL:
A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Rekucki is in his fourth full-time season as a referee in the American Hockey League and ECHL. Last season, he was selected as one of the referees for the Kelly Cup Finals. Rekucki has also spent time this season refereeing in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany. He has also officiated the 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation U18 Championship in Texas, and will work the 2022 IIHF U20 World Juniors in Edmonton. Rekucki previously worked the 2017 North American Hockey League Top Prospects Tournament, 2017 NAHL Robertson Cup Final, 2018 United States Hockey League Top Prospects Game and the 2018 USHL Clark Cup Final.
Rekucki was also one of the officials tapped to work the IIHF’s 2022 World Junior Championship.
Yerkovich is in his third season as an ECHL referee, while also currently working games in the AHL and for the IIHF. He has been a member of USA Hockey’s Officiating Development Program since 2015, and refereed the 2018 and 2019 NAHL Top Prospects Tournaments and the 2019 NAHL Robertson Cup Final. Yerkovich attended the NHL Officiating Exposure Combine in 2019 and worked the 2019 Traverse City NHL Prospects Tournament and the 2021 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Senger’s officiating career began in 1989, working youth hockey games in North Dakota, and he continued working youth and high school games in North Dakota and Minnesota during his college years. He made his ECHL debut in December 2005, while also having experience in the SPHL and in the American Collegiate Hockey Association.
Shiley has worked nearly 400 games in the ECHL since beginning his career in 1998-99. In addition to his time in the ECHL, he currently works games in the AHL, and has worked previously in the Southern Professional Hockey League and the former United Hockey League.
Current NHL officials who have worked the ECHL All-Star Game are referees Ian Walsh (1997), Brian Pochmara (2001), Justin St. Pierre (2002) and Tom Chmielewski (2011) and linesman Brian Mach (1999), while former NHL referee Jeff Smith worked the 1998 game.
The stripes will also be handing over a significant charitable contribution at Monday’s event.
“At this year’s event, the officials will present our largest donation ever to Ascension St. Vincent’s Foundation and their Mobile Health Pediatrics Program,” Thomson added.
Puck drop is slated for 7:30pm on Monday night. The game will be broadcast on the NHL Network. Coverage will be preceded by the USA Hockey BioSteel All-American Game at 4:00pm.
Congratulations to this year’s ECHL All-Star officiating crew!
