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Nine USA Hockey Officials Selected to Work 2022 Olympic Winter Games

By USA Hockey, 01/07/22, 2:30PM MST

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Article updated Feb.9, 2022

The U.S. will have nine representatives on the ice wearing the stripes at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Five female officials and four male officials have been assigned to work the two respective tournaments, the IIHF announced.

On the women’s side, Kelly Cooke and Chelsea Rapin were selected as referees. Cooke played hockey collegiately at Princeton University before spending time in the pro ranks with the Boston Blades (CWHL) and the Boston Pride (PHF). Cooke transitioned to officiating, and has worked numerous events, including the bronze medal game at the 2020 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship. Most recently, she became the second female referee to work an American Hockey League contest.

Rapin has been involved in the USA Hockey officiating program, and officiated the 2021 Chipotle-USA Hockey Girls National Championships in April. A few months later, Rapin was in Calgary to officiate the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

Among the linespersons selected to work the women’s tournament were Kendall Hanley, Jacqueline Spresser and Sara Strong. Hanley joined Cooke on the ice for the 2020 bronze medal game at the Under-18 Women’s World Championship and also served on the bronze medal crew at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Calgary. Strong also served as an official in Calgary.

On the men’s side, Andrew Bruggeman was chosen to serve as a referee. A current ECHL and AHL referee, Bruggeman will be making his Olympic debut. He has officiated the IIHF World Junior Championship as well as the All-American Prospects Game (now the BioSteel All-American Game).

William Hancock II and Brian Oliver will serve as linespersons for the men’s tournament. Hancock is an AHL official who was previously slated to work the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship. He worked the IIHF World Junior Champinoship in 2018 when the event was held in Buffalo, N.Y. Oliver will be working his first Olympics, but will join a special list from upstate New York. The linesman will become the fifth Olympic linesman from Rochester since 1998 (Tim Kotyra, 1998; Megan Mackenzie, 2002; Peter Feola, 2010; Laura Johnson, 2014).

As of Feb.9, Stephen Reneau was added to the Olympic officials roster. Reneau, an Overland Park, Kansas native, previously worked three Men's World Championships (2017-19) and the 2021 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship.

Along with the officials on the ice, Scott Zelkin, Stacey Livingston and Melissa Szkola will all represent USA Hockey as Officiating Coaches during the Games.

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