Saturday, 30 November 2024

International Call Ups For Match Officials

Charlotte Cramp at the 2024 World Championships In Bulgaria

Three match officials with Widnes connections have been selected by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to officiate across the world at international tournaments during the current 2024/25 season.

Charlotte Cramp is the current Widnes Wild women’s team captain and she also officiates at men’s NIHL Moralee and Laidler Division matches.

She has officiated at the women’s playoffs weekend for the last 3 seasons, and the most recent season, did the men’s Laidler Division play offs and was on the crew for the women’s Elite final

This is her second year officiating at international level as she was a linesman at the Women’s Under 18 World Championships Division II Group B in Sofia, Bulgaria, last year. In March, Charlotte will be officiating at the senior Women’s World Championships Division IIIA in Belgrade, Serbia.

Philippa Wheeler at the women's play offs in Widnes in 2022 

Philippa MacKinnon
(previously Wheeler) played for the Widnes women’s  team in the 2018/19 Women’s Premier League season and also played league hockey for Peterborough and Nottingham. She officiates at NIHL Moralee Division level and has only recently returned to the ice after having a baby 4 months ago. 

She was a linesman at the Youth Olympics in Switzerland in 2020, the Women’s U18 World Championships in Istanbul Turkey in 2022 and again in Dumfries in 2023. In January she will be officiating at the Women’s Under 18 World Championship Division III in Zagreb, Croatia.

David Good as a Widnes player in 2016
(Photo by Geoff White)
David Good is an experienced Elite League referee who previously played as a netminder for his hometown Hull Jets in the NIHL.

He was drafted in by the Wild as an emergency loan player for two games at the 2016 Laidler Division Play Off weekend after regular Widnes netminder Greg Ruxton suffered an injury late in the season.

Widnes beat Nottingham Lions 2-1 in the semi-final and lost out to league champions Deeside Dragons 5-2 in the final. As a result of this, Good has an impressive all time Widnes netminding record of 90.40 Save Percentage from his two games.  

He was a referee at the World Youth Olympics in Lausanne in 2020 and the Under 20 World Championships in Iceland in 2023. 

The full list of GB match officials that have been select by the IIHF for this season is as follows:

  • Danny Beresford
  • Amy Campbell
  • Charlotte Cramp
  • Andrew Dalton
  • Dave Good
  • Ryan Fraley
  • Clare Howie
  • Ilya Kisil
  • Philippa MacKinnon
  • Felicity Munroe
  • Hollie Neenan
  • Amy Prior

Ice Hockey UK Referee-in-Chief, Colin Davidson, said: “I would like to send congratulations to all the officials on their selection. This is a fantastic achievement for us and is testament to the programme and how we are perceived on the IIHF front. This is, of course, is huge recognition to the officials selected, but also a boost to all officials in the UK as it show how highly regarded we are as a country by the IIHF. We are very proud to have this amount of representation at IIHF tournaments.”

Ice Hockey UK Chief Executive, Henry Staelens, said: “Congratulations to all of our officials who have been selected to officiate at international tournaments this season. It is testament to the talent we have in the programme and the work behind-the-scenes to improve the standards of refereeing in the UK. We know there is more work to do to bring refereeing development to the very highest level over the next few years, and we will continue to work closely with IHUK Referee Section and in collaboration with all UK-based leagues to achieve this.”