Ice Hockey UK referee-in-chief Simon Kirkham says the amount of interest in last weekend’s referee’s seminar bodes well for the future.

A two-day camp at the Dundee Ice Arena was attended by 35 people, with a mixture of experienced officials and those interest in officiating for the first time.

Kirkham ran the camp alongside Paul Staniforth, an experienced Elite League official who has also represented the UK at IIHF tournaments.

“It was a fantastic two days and we certainly have some promising officials coming through the system,” said Kirkham.

“There were many people undertaking a camp for the first time and we had a large number of youngsters there.

“The youngsters are our future, so to see them wanting to be officials is encouraging.

“We also had former players come to the camp and it’s great to see people want to stay involved.”

Participants had on and off-ice training, which included a detailed rules section. On the ice, they had training on basic positioning and match situations.

“It was a very detailed camp and I think everyone got a lot from it,” continued Kirkham,

“We also had four females attend the camp, which is really important.

“IHUK are putting a lot of time and investment into building our pool of women officials and we have been encouraged by their interest in recent months.”