One of the Central Hockey Leagues top officials will be getting some big time experience now that the NHL is back in business. Newly hired referee Keith Kaval has been selected to work one of the two NHL rookie tournaments to take place September 6-11 in Traverse City, MI. Kaval, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, will be joining the full-time CHL officiating staff for the 2005-06 season after working part-time for the previous two seasons. He was selected through the USA Hockey program after having worked in the USA Hockey Junior Officiating Development Program (JODP) in addition to the CHL, UHL and WHL.
Joining Kaval in Traverse City will be Derek Berkebile and Shaun Davis, while Chris Ciamaga, Dean Sanborn, and Jason Nissen will make the calls in San Jose. All six officials have worked Central Hockey League games at some point during the last four seasons. Traverse City will see NHL players compete from the Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild, meanwhile the San Jose Sharks will host the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes. The CHL returns the majority of full-time staff from the last year and welcomes new linesmen T.J. Nua and Jeff Hopkins to the League for the upcoming 2005-06 season.
The Central Hockey League opens its 14th season of play October 21st having led all North American AA leagues in average attendance for four consecutive seasons. In 13 previous years of operation, the CHL has welcomed 32,381,099 fans through 7,542 contests, averaging over 4,293 per game. In the 2004-2005 season, the CHL averaged 4,487 per contest.