History is in the making this week with the first-ever women’s para ice hockey world championships. This is a big step forward toward inclusion in the Paralympics. To talk about the women’s game, we are talking with Brooke Nunemaker and Brad Roethlisberger, officials who have some great insight on the game.
Along with reffing other types of hockey, Brooke Nunemaker has been a referee with World Para Ice Hockey since 2022. She’s officiated at two Women’s World Challenge events and she is in Slovakia for the Women’s World Championships.
Brad Roethlisberger has been involved with WPIH since the early 2000s in several roles — he started as a linesperson, later transitioned to officiating coach, and now also serves on our Officiating Advisory Group. He’s participated in numerous World Championships and Paralympic Winter Games, both on and off the ice. Fun fact: in 2022 and 2023, he served as the President of the Local Organizing Committee for the Women’s World Challenge. He is also referee in chief of the disabled hockey section of USA hockey.
Both Brooke and Brad are in Slovakia for the world championships, but who else is there? TKFLASTANI Monica Quimby! Keep up with her, Team USA and the rest of the competition here. Watch games live on the Paralympic YouTube channel or on World Para Ice Hockey’s Facebook page.
Also on this episode, we have news from:
- Former luger Shiva Keshavan
- Curler John Shuster
- Wheelchair fencer Ellen Geddes
- Photographer Mark Edward Harris (see his winning pics on his Instagram page)
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
Photos courtesy of Brooke Nunemaker and Brad Roethlisberger.
TRANSCRIPT
Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript and may contain errors. Please check its accuracy against the audio. Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
406 – Brooke Nunemaker and Brad Roethlisberger on Officiating Women’s Para Ice Hockey
Jill Jaracz: hello and welcome to another episode of Keith, the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics in Paralympics. If you love the games, we are the show for you. I am your host, Jill Jaracz. Twin, as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?
Alison Brown: I’ve been watching some para ice hockey, so
Jill Jaracz: I’m good.
Oh, so you’re good? I’m so good. Oh man. Oh man. Yes, we are getting into para ice hockey season, so excited. So happy and this week we have some history being made. It is the first ever women’s para ice hockey world championships. And it’s a big step forward for, inclusion for women in the Paralympics.
Also a big step for us because they’ve changed it at the world level from sled hockey to pair of ice hockey. So now we have to get used to something new.
Alison Brown: It is para ice hockey. We had trouble with these interviews going back and forth.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, yes, yes. Did. We
Alison Brown: did. But we’re gonna, we’re gonna try and be.
Accepting of the new terms.
Interview with para ice hockey referee Brooke Nunamaker
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. So to talk about the women’s para ice hockey game, we are talking with officials who have some great insight on the game and how it’s being played and, the history for inclusion into the Paralympics. First up, we were talking with Referee Brooke Nunamaker,
brooke has been with World’s Para Ice Hockey since 2022 as referee. She’s officiated at two Women’s World Challenge Events and is currently in Slovakia for the Women’s World Championships. Let’s take a listen to Brooke.
Brooke, thank you so much for joining us today. You officiate sled hockey referee along with other forms of hockey. But tell us first, what does a referee do and what are the main responsibilities you have on and off the ice?
Brooke Nunemaker: Our main responsibilities as far as hockey for on ice, officiating is calling the game as the rule book intenses. So we have to know the rule book, kind of like the back of our hand during a game. Be able to see a situation happen in live time and make the appropriate decision of whether that play was legal or not, and then apply whatever action we need to in that sense.
Jill Jaracz: How big is the officiating team per game
Brooke Nunemaker: for sled hockey. . It depends on what level you’re doing it at the international level. So for pair of ice hockey, they like to use that name as opposed to sled hockey. we have one referee and two officials, so a three official system.
And then for more of the national level stuff or state level stuff that is uh, two officials.
Alison Brown: What’s the difference between an official and a referee?
Brooke Nunemaker: Uh, referee is, they usually have the orange stripe on their arm, and they are the ones that can call penalties and most of the goals as well as blowing whistles, if the goal goalie freezes the puck, linesman, or lines person, , is the person who is in charge of offsides icing.
Dropping the pucks on most of the face offs. Official is an overarching term for everyone.
Brooke Nunemaker: yeah, I, I misspoke and said one referee, two official instead of one referee, two linesmen,
Jill Jaracz: but Okay. . What is the dynamic of, like, when you’re working with an all female team, because that was touted in, , 2022.
You were in the first all female officiating team, at the Women’s World Challenge, I believe. Mm-hmm. what is that dynamic like?
Brooke Nunemaker: for me the dynamic is really no different, I guess. it’s just like anything, when you work with a group of women, there can be. More emotions involved than if you’re with men.
But I think most of us are coming from a standup hockey background where we work most of our regular season games with mixed crews.
Jill Jaracz: What is the response then from the female players when they have an all female crew?
Brooke Nunemaker: They absolutely love it. I remember, back in 2019, I did a. US Canada Series at St.
Cloud State in Minnesota, and we had three women working the game and every player after the game when they did the handshake line, came up and said how great it was to have three women who actually knew what they were calling, be able to be on the ice with them. Because I know a lot of the times people pick up sled.
A pair of hockey games and they might not know all the rules or how to interpret the rules in a game time situation. So for the athletes on the ice, having referees that know the rules and can be in the game with them as well as representing the female community is huge.
Jill Jaracz: What are some of those differences in rules?
Yeah.
Brooke Nunemaker: the main rule difference is probably teeing. So the front of the sled where a player, if they have feet, their feet stay, that cannot make a. Drive through another person’s sled. So the easiest to think of it is like a car. If you t-boned another car, so if you had the front of your car and you at any point were trying to drive through another car, that would be a t.
Same thing on the sled. the other big ones are hand passes because they’re sticks. On ice, that’s how they skate, as well as move the puck. So we don’t want them to be moving the puck with their hand, we want it to be actually on their stick. So we really have to watch for that. another more in relation to that is butt ending, which also happens in the standup game, but it’s definitely more,
Serious in the sled hockey game because they have picks at the end of their sticks that help them propel themselves and skate. So if they were to poke somebody with one of the end of their sticks, that’s very dangerous. And then one that I’ve never seen happen personally is ramming where kind of the player going in skating into another person would lift up their feet and expose the blades of their sled into another person.
Alison Brown: The minute you said ramming, I said, this cannot be good. How much trouble, or I shouldn’t say how much trouble, how different is it avoiding sled hockey players or para hockey players versus standup players?
Brooke Nunemaker: the only big difference is everything is a lot lower. Luckily for me, I’m only five four, so I’m fairly short.
so I am lower to the ice anyway. As opposed to if you saw like somebody that, like some of the men on the pair of ice hockey officiating crew that are like six, seven, they’re towering over these players and you’re constantly looking down as opposed to. Out into the open for players. So you have to have a little bit more awareness, especially on face offs because we need to get out of the way on face offs as linesmen, dropping the puck to make sure that we’re not changing what would happen in that play.
And when you’re trying to look behind you, your tendency is to look directly behind you, but you have to look direct down and behind in sled pair of hockey.
Alison Brown: And how hard did the sleds make it to see things? Do you find that that’s, an obstruction?
Brooke Nunemaker: So that’s a really good question. as far as officiating, that is a difference as well in officiating, standup versus sled is, especially in the one two system, but also in a two official system, that official can cut the ice across.
Get on top of play. ’cause you really wanna be where the puck is so you can see everything. So in regular standup, you never see the officials crisscross the ice. But in para hockey with a one two official, that official can cut up from right side straight across to left side if they need to. Another.
So the same difference in a two official system is if the puck is behind the net and they can’t really get a good look at it, they can follow the puck behind the net. They just have to know they gotta get back so that they’re in a proper position as the puck moves up the ice for their partner.
Alison Brown: Okay, so one thing I noticed when I was in Beijing and I watched way too much para hockey was there was a lot of under the sled puck.
Handling, they would sort of, pass it between their two sticks. How tricky does that make it for you when the puck kind of disappears under someone?
Brooke Nunemaker: it happens. They’re allowed to stick handle underneath their sled. It takes a lot of skill, so the ones that can do it well is really fun to watch.
It makes it difficult only if it’s along the boards and there’s a lot of players. So just like any other hockey that I referee, if I can’t see it or I need them to move it, you just talk to ’em, tell ’em to keep it moving. You try to position yourself in the best position to be able to see it.
Alison Brown: I wanna ask a question. When we were talking about women versus men, what differences when you’re officiating the men’s game versus the women’s game, do you find, especially at that, that really high level?
Brooke Nunemaker: I mean both at the women’s level, at at all levels, women can check. So there’s no differentiating between checking like there is in standup hockey vers from men versus women.
I would say the differences are probably women hold grudges a little bit more than men. So maybe if a hit happened earlier in the game, those two players might be a little bit more. Chatty with each other after face offs or after whistles get blown. But really no difference much.
Alison Brown: I love a
Brooke Nunemaker: good chippy hockey game though.
Then tune in for US and Canada.
Alison Brown: Oh, I got to see the US Canada. Well, the men’s in in Beijing and man, were they chippy? I love it.
Brooke Nunemaker: There’s a good rivalry.
Jill Jaracz: Well that and, because the US just won back the World championship going into Milan Cortina, that’s gonna be something to, something to see. ,
How often do you get the opportunity to officiate flood hockey? I.
Brooke Nunemaker: A lot less than standup hockey. usually I live in Minnesota and um, we have an amazing tournament out here every year in June called the Hendrickson Foundation. It’s two brothers started it kinda in honor of their dad and it’s, , all disabled hockey.
So Warrior hockey, which is veterans sled hockey, blind hockey, special hockey. Standing amputee hockey, and they have a huge tournament on a facility that has eight sheets of ice. So there’s that every year. And then several years I’ve done a couple other tournaments. USA hockey are organization body for USA does.
NHL Sled Classic, usually in the fall. So in a place with teams that are kind of sponsored or named with the different NHL teams. And then at the end of the year they have a disabled festival, which is their national tournament. So that’s the other big one. So it could be up to three, sometimes less depending on travel and if I can or am able to with work and family life.
Jill Jaracz: So then how is it staying on top of that game for you as an official, when you go in and you’re, you don’t give very many opportunities, so you, but you wanna be the best.
Brooke Nunemaker: I definitely watch all the tournaments. So even if I’m able to, I’ve woken up at, you know, two in the morning when they were over in Beijing to watch.
The US play, whoever it is, or, last year I was not able to go to the Women’s World Challenge, so I was watching it at home. those type of things. If, if there’s streaming available, I try to be on top of it. I know some of the local stuff, there’s really not that, so it’s harder in that sense. But the tournaments that we are able to do.
When I go to those, it’s not usually just working one or two games a day. It can be, six to eight a games a day. So you’re getting a lot of repetitions in that short me period of time. The LA a couple of weeks ago, we had a development camp that wasn’t too far from where I live for USA sled players and they had a officiating seminar at the same time, so I was able to get on the ice for that as well.
So.
Jill Jaracz: How’s your brain at the end of a day of eight games?
Brooke Nunemaker: brain’s not bad. What’s worse is usually the fingers and toes. some of those, that’s usually like a NHL classic or a disabled festival, and you get very in tears of level of play. So tier one being the Paralympians, the US development team players, tier five being.
People that are relatively new or areas that don’t have the same amount of players, and you sometimes youth as well. So just not the same speed where you’re not moving as quickly. So then it’s a matter of trying to stay warm.
Alison Brown: How often do you have to replace your skates?
Brooke Nunemaker: My skates are still the ones that I played my senior year of college with.
I actually was debating a couple of weeks ago of repairing ’em and then I got back on the ice for that. development camp seminar. And I was like, yeah, these aren’t too bad. They can, they can hang on a little while. I believe I did get new steel on them probably a couple years after I was done playing.
the boots, the boots are hanging in there. The boots are fine. Yeah. I was really actually nervous about that because, um. I had a baby last year, so I have a 1-year-old, and I didn’t know if my feet had changed at all that much, and so I was nervous about, you know, going to Slovakia at the end of the summer and having skates that would hurt if I was on ’em for a couple of hours a day
Jill Jaracz: and they’re fine.
They’re okay. They’re
Brooke Nunemaker: just fine. Yep, they’re fine. I’m not worried. But I did find a local shop at home, near home that had a pair of like newer but comparable to what I had that was on sale. So I was very much had my eye on them if if they needed to be replaced.
Alison Brown: Okay. Now I have to ask, did you ever officiate when you were pregnant?
Brooke Nunemaker: yes, but I stopped about. Six weeks in. So like just before my first ultrasound, I stopped. I know people that have done more than that. I didn’t wanna take that risk, and I’m glad I didn’t because I had a, not super pleasant, not that it wasn’t like the symptoms and things like that, but I had a complicated, um.
End term of my pregnancy. So my little guy is 10 weeks early, so I was on restrictions pretty early on, so I, I mean, I couldn’t stand for more than 30 minutes at like four months pregnant. So I doubt that I’d be allowed to be on the ice skating.
Alison Brown: is it going back?
Brooke Nunemaker: just fine. I work out pretty much every day.
So, as long as I’ve been doing that, really no difference.
Alison Brown: Yeah. I wasn’t sure if you’re, you know, I remember from my own pregnancy, my hips were, because I’m so, flexible, I was just like falling for no reason even for several months after because everything was so loose.
Brooke Nunemaker: Yeah. I had felt that initially and what was it, two years ago I actually had a hip surgery, and I skated the Women’s World Challenge.
Almost three months to the day of having my surgery. I was cleared by my physician, so that was awesome. but I wasn’t too nervous. Everything kind of tightened back up postpartum to say, so that made it just fine when I was on the ice the last time.
Alison Brown: Yeah. We talked about the athletes coming back from pregnancy now, I mean, Officials have to do it too. And you are extremely physical. It’s not like the official who just kind of stands there and watches you are skating pretty fast for a long time. Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: How has the women’s game changed since you started officiating? It
Brooke Nunemaker: definitely more players. There’s a lot more women players, they’re starting to get more skilled as well. So it used to be, you know, one or two players that you would recognize their name, and I still see them. So it’s not like they’re still in there, but there’s definitely more.
Skill across the board. And then even a couple weeks ago at, like I was saying, at the development camp, we were picking out some of the little girls and we’re like, oh, she’s probably gonna be on the development team. How many, how many years do you think She’ll, it’ll take her to get on. And so it’s growing and it’s growing rapidly.
I know I pulled up, you know, some stats ’cause I was. Researching myself before jumping on this podcast with you, and there was a stat that between the 2022 and 2024 Women’s World Challenges, the On Ice female participation rose from 0.01% to 19% within para ice hockey. that’s in two years. So if we get this thing, you know, we got the world championship this year, which will just expose it that much more and then trying for 2030 for the Paralympics, if we keep that growth rate, that’s absolutely insane.
don’t even know if it’s possible to maintain that.
Alison Brown: Do you see a big difference in different from different countries in terms of their, either their men’s team or their, their women’s team?
Brooke Nunemaker: The main thing is the amount of players, US, Canada, and Great Britain all have a good, good, solid group of team skaters. some of the other countries. other tournaments, they’ve kind of combined them on Team Europe or Team World, just ’cause they didn’t have the funds to send a full team.
I’ll be curious to see a team Australia at the end of the summer ’cause they’re gonna be, in Slovakia. But it kind of comes down to how many players they have to be able to, Fill the need of the team. I know Canada is all self-funded. They don’t really get funding from u from Hockey Canada, where our USA team gets a little bit of help from USA hockey, so a lot of the players are doing it fully on their own.
so I imagine it’s that, but worse in some European countries that don’t even have the funds for their men’s sled hockey, let alone the women. I mean, I know. Was it Norway? Has Lena Schroeder who played on the Paralympic team, at previous, one of the three women to do it previously. So she’s been an advocate obviously in the, the European side of things.
several of the European players have made multiple trips to different world challenges, so that has helped then have them take that experience and go home to build their programs. As far as the style of play, things like that, US and Canada have a more physical style of play than say Great Britain.
Also a little bit more speed possibly because of the amount of skaters that participate here and the ability to kind of go back to US and Canada driving versus having to fly. If you’re trying to fly over here for more play as well. I mean, great Britain’s on an island as well, so they might have to fly over to France to play or somewhere else.
So it’s the proximity, probably the big one.
Alison Brown: Who’s the trippiest?
Brooke Nunemaker: if you watched 2023 in Green Bray it probably Canada, but I’m sure USA gets away with it as well. And I’m sure that Great Britain can be chippy too. It all depends the situation. I feel like there are specific players, just like any sport that you know, like, oh, this, she hits hard or watch her stick, or this one puts their hands up a lot.
So we pick up on who that is and our. Team of officials are pretty good at communicating, and not that we’re gonna sit and watch one specific person, but if a scrum happens, you could kind of know who’s gonna be in the middle of it.
I’m not gonna name any names though, so don’t ask. No, no, no.
Alison Brown: But you know, it’s always good to know that even in para hockey, they’re goons are goons, hockey goons just exist everywhere and that’s makes the sport all the more lovable.
Jill Jaracz: How fast is a sled or can sled be compared to skating? Standup? Like do you, do you have an edge?
’cause you’re, you’re upright?
Brooke Nunemaker: I think a little bit. probably, definitely for the women. Some of the men, double amputees probably can get going pretty darn fast. Just because of the length of a leg limb versus the length of an arm limb and how much force you can push through. And as well as anatomy wise, the big muscles that can push force, more of ’em are in your lower limbs, your, your glutes, your hamstrings, your quads.
And if you’re using your arms, you just don’t have that dense, large muscle to propel you.
Jill Jaracz: have you gotten on a sled yourself?
Brooke Nunemaker: Yeah. That, that was actually how I first got introduced to sled hockey. So, um, Brad, who we mentioned earlier, who is USA hockey’s kind of district in chief of disabled hockey and.
Also the world pair of ice hockey coach that’s headed to Slovakia with us. He started a Wisconsin sled hockey team, and I went to undergrad at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, and I played on their women’s hockey team and he brought the Wisconsin sled team to one of our practices, and we all got in sleds and kind of.
Scrimmage them a little bit. Uh, we got our butts kicked. And so my first experience with sled hockey was actually putting myself in a sled. What did you think? It was hard and our, I mean, the, the, the blades on the bottom of our sleds were very wide. Some of us had pushers, so other players helping to, to move and push us around to keep our balance, which that is allowed in.
Kind of the, the lower levels and the international level. There’s not gonna be a pusher, but you can have pushers. You just can’t go past the speed, the general speed of the game. You can’t skate or pull them backwards, and then they can’t have a pusher in the, in front of the net area in your defensive zone for obvious reasons.
You don’t wanna have them blocking a puck or a pass.
Oh man. Have you guys ever been in a sled?
Jill Jaracz: No. We have not Been fortunate enough to,
Alison Brown: I would love to try this. I would love to be a pusher now that you
Brooke Nunemaker: introduced me to that. So to become a pusher, are you guys in the United States? Yes. Yes. So if you were a registered player within USA hockey or a registered coach, you could actually be a pusher for somebody.
So on the ice in the game. you have to be registered yourself to be able to do that. I don’t think registration is that much. So
Alison Brown: yeah, I can do that.
Brooke Nunemaker: Reach out to your local, uh, sled program.
Alison Brown: I’m in Connecticut. We have to have one.
Brooke Nunemaker: New England does have a good, amount of teams and there actually is a league that plays different areas throughout the year. In the New England area.
Jill Jaracz: Do the pushers go down? Do you have some pushers that just go down and they’re just.
Gotta get back up.
Brooke Nunemaker: We have players that go down that have to get back up at some of the lower levels. Oh yeah. Okay. And, we always, as officials can go up to them and ask if they want help, and we’re trained on how to help them up. We are also trained on how to get them apart if they start a fight and push them down.
So, you know, both ways. But I’ve never seen a push or fall, but I, I’m not gonna say that it won’t happen, but players get on off balance and can’t get up. Several times throughout the year and in games. So it’s normal.
Alison Brown: Jill? I’m not, I’m not talking about doing like high level, I’m talking about like kids.
Jill Jaracz: No, I
Alison Brown: understand that for kids,
Brooke Nunemaker: I understand that you’d probably, if you started being a pusher, the opportunity for you getting in a sled would probably increase too.
Alison Brown: Yes. I laugh when you say Brooke. Oh, I’m on the short side. You would tower over me. So just, I think that’s also Jill’s think in my ability to push.
No,
Jill Jaracz: no, I’m not doubting your ability to push. I then go to, well, do the pushers ever get into fights? ’cause we understand it. No, I’ve,
Brooke Nunemaker: I’d love to see it. Most of the people involved in the local lower level of. not lower level as in skill, but lower level as in kind of homegrown level. Mm-hmm.
Everybody’s just so happy to be out there and that people are participating. I mean, you have to think that some of these parents of these kids never thought that their kid would be able to participate in a sport and they get to be out there and they’re just a regular kid. They’re a hockey player. And that’s something that Brad, for one harps on continuously throughout the year is they’re hockey players.
Yes, it’s a disabled sport, but once they’re in a sled, there’s nothing disabled about them. They’re moving, they’re speed, they’re shooting, they’re doing everything.
Jill Jaracz: Out of control. Hockey parents from the standup kids side need to come over to the sled side and see how to act and how to behave.
Brooke Nunemaker: Yes. Honestly, I enjoy. Refereeing the disabled slide, whether it’s sled or blind hockey, because of the community, much more than I enjoy refereeing the standup youth level because of what you said. Parents, coaches.
Jill Jaracz: That’s really sad.
What are you looking forward to for Women’s World Champs and, also what is the vibe as they are working to be added to the Paralympics?
Brooke Nunemaker: noticing the differences is just bringing more people in and obviously the growth of it. I’m looking forward to working with the crew of officials.
Some of them I’ve worked with in the past, but also some new ones from. Slovakia and France, that it’s always interesting working with people from a different country. , So that’s probably what I’m looking forward to the most. The growth is the biggest thing is what can we, what can we do on our part as officials to bring stuff back home, to help grow in each individual country, and then that’ll lead to the world level.
Jill Jaracz: is there anything we’re missing from OR, or people who don’t watch sled hockey should take note of?
Brooke Nunemaker: I would say just take note that they’re hockey players. I think with within the para community, that’s just a given.
They’re athletes. take note of the fact that the women can check. I think that’s a huge draw. That one thing that people say they don’t like watching women’s hockey and stand up is ’cause they’re not as physically aggressive but, and para or sled they are sometimes even more. And I would say. just watching, getting everything out there.
If you can support or if you wanna be a pusher or an official or a help coach or help fund somebody’s sled, find a way to do it.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent.
Well, Brooke, thank you so much for sharing more information about sled hockey and how it’s officiated.
We are so excited to watch it come 2026, so we appreciate you letting us know how more, how it works better. Thank you so much, Brooke.
Interview with para ice hockey officiating coach Brad Roethlisberger
Jill Jaracz: Next we are talking with a member. Next we’re talking with Brad Roethlisberger. Brad has been involved with World Para Ice Hockey since the early two thousands and several roles. He started as a lines person, later transitioned to Officiating Coach, and now also serves on World Para Ice Hockey’s Officiating Advisory Group.
He has participated in numerous world championships and paralympic winter games, both on and off the ice. A fun fact in 2022 and 2023, he also served as the president of the local organizing committee for the Women’s World Challenge, which has been up in his part of the world in, in northern Wisconsin.
Uh, he’s also referee in chief of the Disabled Hockey section of USA Hockey. Take a listen to Brad.
Brad Raeth. Lisberger, thank you so much for joining us. What is your involvement on the officiating side of Para Ice Hockey?
Brad Roethlisberger: So currently right now I am, , one of the officiating coaches with World Para Ice Hockey, which basically simply means at the, major events that World Para Ice Hockey has, I will be responsible for overseeing the officials and providing coaching and training, to them.
In addition to that, I am also the referee in chief for Disabled Hockey section, for USA hockey. in that role, I will help train officials in the different, nuances, the different disciplines of disabled hockey, such as, sled ledge, also pair of ice hockey. we have. special hockey as well for our cognitively challenged athletes.
We have blind hockey. We have standing amputee, deaf, hard of hearing, and then also warrior. So for those six different disciplines, my volunteer role is helping train the officials in the different nuances of those sports
Jill Jaracz: for para ice hockey. how are the nuances different from standup hockey? I mean, yes, they’re down low, but when you look at officiating, what are the things that officials, especially new officials to the sport, have to, get used to doing?
Brad Roethlisberger: So probably the biggest thing is like you alluded to Jill, the sight lines.
In standup hockey, we train and teach the officials, keep your head up, keep your head up, keep your head up. But in para ice, we have to be looking down at all times because that’s where the players are, that’s where the action is. In addition to that, the officials need to be really close to the play, which is different than in standup hockey.
In standup hockey. You know, we wanna have that buffer zone so we don’t get caught up in play. but with para ice, we want to be right on top of the play because that’s where so many of the infractions are. in the sport. And then, you know, it was probably the, the third thing is, the ability to really skate all over the ice.
stand up hockey, we have what are called skating lanes and pair of ice. You pretty much get to go wherever you want to ’cause you have to be on top of the play.
Jill Jaracz: So in developing those sight lines. do the officials want to be taller or do they want to get low, or does that depend on where the puck is?
Brad Roethlisberger: It really depends upon where the puck is, having, I’ll say a taller or shorter official in terms of stature, that really doesn’t make a whole heck of a lot of difference. it’s really just the ability to get in close to a play and then quickly get back out safely from, you know, those tight corners that you’ll find yourself in.
Jill Jaracz: Do newer officials Do they forget that the sled is right there? is there some tripping and falling going on when you first start getting into a school ab?
Brad Roethlisberger: Absolutely. So, yeah. Uh, in fact, with many of the events that we have, we will have a post event. gathering with all the officials and what you bring to the post event is based upon the number of times that you may have been taken down by a sled.
So, you know, not that we encourage it at all, but this is well known amongst many of the players. And, many of the players may take an opportunity to try and knock an official down just so they have to bring more of a beverage to the post tournament event.
Jill Jaracz: Are there penalties involved with that
Brad Roethlisberger: in knocking over a an
Jill Jaracz: official Yeah.
Brad Roethlisberger: Well, uh. There could be yes, depending upon the severity of it. but quite honestly, a a lot of times it’s in good, good natured, fun, the. Players certainly do not want to potentially hurt an official, or hurt themselves. ’cause if we go down and we fall on top of them, that’s, risking injury there.
And my, 15 years of being involved in para of ice hockey, both on the ice as an official and then as a coach and supervisor. There’s only been one time where I can honestly say a player purposely took out an official. Otherwise, no, we, we don’t see it very often. It’s, if it happens, it’s an accident.
So we’re not gonna penalize a player for that.
Jill Jaracz: That’s good. How long does it take, an official to get used to the idea of the fact that they have to use the whole ice?
Brad Roethlisberger: Gosh, you know, that’s a good question, Jill, and it really varies from every official to official. not to sound cliche, but some figure it out within their first game.
- You know, others, it takes multiple games. And there is somewhat of a difference between if you’re a referee, if you’re a linesman, linesman positioning is not that much different than in the standup hockey game. It’s more so with the referee, where they have to adjust. So, the referee, yeah, it, it may take a couple of games.
I always tell an official, get comfortable being u uncomfortable and that kind of helps ’em, especially when you’re getting in close to play. It’s a natural instinct for an official to say, geez, I should not be here, but in the sport of paradise. Yeah, that’s, if you’re feeling uncomfortable where you are, you’re probably in the right spot.
Jill Jaracz: do referees then have to have different levels of speed for their skating versus, the standup game?
Brad Roethlisberger: Yes. Not only the speed, but I would say just as important as speed is agility to move in and out of tight spaces, to cut across the ice when they need to as play moves up and down the ice.
so it’s kind of that pace that a good pair of ice official will be able to have that good pace. Stand up Hockey. I. It is truly more like a marathon ’cause you’re going the entire game, so you don’t wanna overdo it. You’re never gonna last the entire game. but in para ice, you actually do need to have more of a sprinters, uh, mentality at times versus the marathon runner, if that makes sense.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, that does make perfect sense.
Where do referees come from? It feels like in hockey, a lot of refs have been players before. Do you get people who are ref only?
Brad Roethlisberger: Not too many. Most of ’em have had some playing experience.
And transition into the officiating world.
Alison Brown: Well, that doesn’t surprise me ’cause there’s so many levels of h you know, you can play hockey when you’re a kid and then in high school and then in college doesn’t mean you’re gonna go on to higher levels from there.
Brad Roethlisberger: Yeah. In fact, you know, a funny story for myself. I was, in all State bench warmer, throughout my playing career. you know, if there’s a hall of fame, for really below average players, I would have the plaque for that. So that’s, part of the reason why I got into officiating in high school and one of the first.
Annual camps, you have to go to annual seminars. My instructor came up to me afterwards and he said, Brad, I’ve seen you play and now I’ve seen you officiate. Let me tell you, you are not going anywhere as a player, but you might go somewhere as a referee. I’d quit playing if I were you and just strictly stick to officiating.
and I mean, it was very true. I didn’t like the a answer or that comment at the time. but yeah, it was very true.
Alison Brown: So then how did you go from, I assume, officiating standup hockey to officiating para hockey?
Brad Roethlisberger: It actually all started because I started coaching a para ice hockey team in Wisconsin.
And I’d been officiating for a long, long time and I started coaching on the para ice side of things. And at the time, the head of officiating for USA hockey reached out to me. He knew that I was coaching, he knew that I’d been working high levels of. Hockey on the ice. So he had asked me if I’d be interested in officiating an event, and that was back in 2008 in, uh, Boston.
Boston held the world championships. And uh, so I went out there and absolutely fell in love with the sport and also officiating the sport.
Alison Brown: Have you been in a sled?
Brad Roethlisberger: I have, yes.
Alison Brown: What’d you think?
Brad Roethlisberger: it, it’s very challenging. The one thing that I noticed, is It isn’t so much your upper body strength, obviously you have to have that and a lot of people that watch Pair of Ice think, oh my gosh, you have to have big, strong shoulders and everything else, which is true, but it’s actually your core strength that is.
Probably the most important because it’s the core that will stabilize you. It’s your core that you can actually use to skate up and down the ice and make tight turns and everything else. so that was probably the most surprising thing to me when I got out of the sled. Well, not even that day, like two days later I’m like, oh my gosh, my abs are just killing me.
So, yeah, it, it’s a lot of fun. And to this date, the. Team that I, I help coach right now our practices. About half of the time I will get in the sled itself to run the practices because I wanna be able to have that same view of what the players are seeing. I remember years back when I was coaching and I would be on my skates and standing up and you know, I was beating my head against the wall at times going.
Why are these kids just not figuring it out? and then it dawned on me, I’m driving back from practice, I’m like. Hey, dummy, you’re explaining it to kids that are in a sled from a standup coaching standpoint, why don’t you get in a sled and see what they’re actually seeing and adjust your coaching patterns to that.
So, yeah, I’ll still get in a sled every now and then. And, uh, humble myself. and the kids love it too. They, they like it when I’m giving in the sled for practices.
Jill Jaracz: So from a player perspective, What do they see that’s different from a standup game?
Brad Roethlisberger: their sight lines are different as well.
You’re not able to see as much of the ice as if you were standing up. the players around you are gonna block your viewpoints versus, being up on skates and skating upright. that’s probably the biggest thing are those sight lines and being able to see the rink, and see the full field of play.
Jill Jaracz: Let’s just switch over to Beijing because we wanna talk about the tournament. You were there as, the officiating head coach in that role, are you also responsible for official selection
Brad Roethlisberger: to some extent, yes. myself and the two other officiating coaches, we will, uh, make suggestions, recommendations to World Para ice hockey. and, and in fact, for the upcoming, Milana Cortina Paras. We have to have our list by the end of the month, the long list to, world para ice.
And then, you know, we’ll narrow it down from there. We still have two events upcoming this fall to evaluate, the officials and, you know, eventually come up with the short list. But yeah, that is part of the role.
Alison Brown: So when you’re managing and assigning officials during a tournament and you’re watching games, how much are you actually watching the game versus the officials?
Brad Roethlisberger: I would say that. probably 20% is watching the game and the other 80% is watching the officials. Now, fortunately, at many of our higher level competitions, we’ve got video replay, so that way we can go back and, and. Watch the actual game and see what happened. because a lot of times we are looking and focusing on what the official is doing, where they’re positioned, you know, we’ll see the arm go up, but for penalty call, but we may not even have seen what the penalty was.
and that’s where, replay. Comes in handy now. I will deny that if any other on ice officials listening to this right now, which I hope they will. So let’s just edit that last part out altogether, because I don’t wanna get, uh, get myself or the other coaches in trouble with any of the on ice officials.
Jill Jaracz: No promises there on that one. Yeah.
Brad Roethlisberger: Weren’t we talking about Beijing?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Well, oh, I was gonna ask like, when is the last time you really watched a hockey game?
Brad Roethlisberger: Oh boy. . It’s a long time. it’s, it is funny you asked that question because Yeah. To this date, even if I’m a spectator, just at a game, I will still watch the officials to see what they’re doing.
now it might be the other way around, you know, I’ll watch 80% of the game and 20% of the officials. But, I think once it’s kind of in your blood. You’re always an official, you’re always evaluating and critiquing. I mean, based upon the, you know, the past Stanley Cup finals, I don’t think I missed a call at all during every single game.
I mean, I had every offsides icing nailed a hundred percent sitting from my couch.
Alison Brown: I have no doubt. So on Beijing, one of the things that I found very interesting was China as a team, because I know they didn’t play a lot internationally before the Paralympics. Correct. Was that hard as an official, where you go into a Paralympics being unfamiliar with a team?
Brad Roethlisberger: It can be. but it can also be a good thing as well too.
You get used to nuances of certain teams in certain countries, you know, good, bad, and indifferent. and as much as we, I. Want to go out on the ice and not have any preconceived notions about players or coaches or countries, it happens. And so that was actually somewhat of a benefit for all the officials participating in that, not knowing what to expect from the players and also the coaches and bench.
Alison Brown: In the bronze medal game with Korea and China, there were two 10 minute misconducts, and I was so confused because people served their two minute, but then the 10 minute didn’t seem to get served off ice.
I was so confused.
Brad Roethlisberger: So with a 10 minute misconduct, although the player goes into the penalty box, no time goes up on a bo on the scoreboard, like a two minute minor or a five minute major. so it doesn’t affect the ONI strength at all. It’s just the player is removed from being able to play for at least a 10 minute timeframe.
Okay.
Alison Brown: So it’s to that specific player, not to the team? That is correct, yes.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So, so now we’re talking about lines getting messed up for 10 minutes. Yes. Okay.
Brad Roethlisberger: Correct.
Alison Brown: When you’re going into a game that you know is.
And I love this hockey word chippy, like a USA Canada game where, you know there’s gonna be a lot of back and forth. What’s that prep like for the officials?
Brad Roethlisberger: I’ve never seen chippiness in US, Canada. I. I don’t know what you are talking about. That concept is foreign to me, but let’s run with it and say that that does actually happen.
it’s really just more of a mental awareness, first of all, knowing that okay, you’ve got to, the whistle blows. You need to have your head on a swivel, constantly looking for what we’ll call the hot spots and react to those and get to them right away. When I was on the ice, I actually loved being in those types of games because it caused me and it forced me to be really super hyperfocused now.
Yeah. Every single game an official goes out for, they should be that way. But you do have that heightened awareness when you know that there’s a history between two particular teams. and some guys react and ladies as well, react really well to that. And Others, you know, they’re not, not necessarily the best people for those, hotspot games.
So part of the selection that we go through when making the assignments. Yeah, that’s one of the things that we factor in both as referees and as linesmen.
Jill Jaracz: When you’re making assignments, do you do them on like a day by day basis? This crew will do this crew. Do you, do you mix crews up or do, are people set.
Brad Roethlisberger: No. every game is gonna be different. So we don’t have set crews. typically we will have, anywhere from three to five referees.
We, for every tournament we try and have a plus one referee and a plus one linesman. And we will just switch those up with the international competition. We will usually do assignments, for a block of two days. And, uh, those assignments generally come out the day before. You know, a series of games starts.
Uh, so that way all the officials will know what their assignments are, for two days. And then, we will then do assignments after that on a rolling basis. So, we’ll usually three times, in our tournament is when we will, make the assignments.
Jill Jaracz: what do you base your assignments on?
Are they based on performance as the tournament goes on? Do you look for crew people that are gelling together?
Brad Roethlisberger: Yes. Yes. And also, you know, who’s giving me the most amount of money too? I mean, I will take kickbacks. There’s, you know, nothing wrong with that. Um, yeah, it, it is, it’s really based upon, you know, their performance.
a lot of off ice. I. You know, what they do off the ice is just as equally as important as what they do on the ice. how certain officials work together. And then you also have to be cognizant that we don’t wanna see one official seeing a particular country, more than three times in a, in a tournament.
It’s not fair to the officials, nor is it necessarily fair, to that particular country.
Alison Brown: Do you worry about too many American officials on an American, game? You know, that sort of perceived optics?
Brad Roethlisberger: not anymore, as a sport has evolved. We have gotten rid of what’s called the passport rule. So previously, an official cannot be represented, couldn’t be from the same country as either of the two teams.
So years ago when we took a look at the depth of the officiating pool, it was pretty North American heavy between US and, and Canada. and, you know, some of the more experienced and qualified and higher ranked officials came from North America. Well, unfortunately, that meant that. Many of those officials were not eligible to work.
the gold or Bronze Games simply ’cause us and Canada were either playing against each other in that gold game or one of those countries were represented at in the bronze as well. I. Well, I, I wanna say now it’s been four years where, the teams have said, listen, we want the best rated officials out there, whether they come from our home country or not.
Technically they could have the appeal and say, no, we don’t necessarily wanna have this country, uh, this particular official on a game, but most of ’em realize that they’ve been selected for that game based upon their performance throughout the tournament. Admit,
Jill Jaracz: were there issues with.
Maybe not so experienced officials or not, I don’t wanna say not so qualified. They’re qualified to get there, but people who have less experience and maybe could be prone to making more mistakes, getting those higher level gains because of that passport rule. And then maybe the officiating wasn’t as good as it could have been.
Brad Roethlisberger: Yeah. Uh, you know, in the past history, we’ve seen that a few times, where, you know, the referee and or the linesmen were not necessarily the highest ranked, during that particular tournament. You know, not to the extent that it caused any issues with any of those games, but ultimately with any competition.
You’ve got the best players and countries playing in those gold medal games. The bronze medal games. We want to have a officiating crew that’s going to provide a solid performance as well. I. In the past, I would say quite honestly, if you look back at the video, you, you’re not gonna necessarily know that that crew or that particular official wasn’t the highest rated.
but from an officiating coaching staff, we knew that at the time.
Jill Jaracz: What do you look for in off ice behavior?
Brad Roethlisberger: The big thing is just how they get along with other, you know, the other officials. do they have a meme mentality or is it truly a, a true team mentality?
you know, off the ice, what are they doing in their free time? Are they enjoying themselves too much? are they making it to the classroom sessions? Are they studying their games after the game to try and improve? Yeah, there, there’s a, a number of items that we take a look at. but I would say a, a top thing comes down to what they’re doing off the ice, away from the ice rink.
are they representing the sport in a positive light that we want them to highlight the sport?
Alison Brown: As the sport has grown during your time doing this and gotten more highly skilled and bigger, what kind of new challenges are you seeing in terms of the game getting faster? So it’s harder to officiate or, play getting more complex.
How has, how has it made it harder for officials?
Brad Roethlisberger: One of the biggest challenges I would say is adjusting to the skill level of the countries. So right now, on an international basis, we have a, a pool, a B pool, and a C pool. Even within, the current structure with the A pool, you’ve got four countries that are just very strong consistently in the top four, and then the next four.
countries, there’s a pretty significant drop off in terms of talent. Well, that’s just within your A pool. And then you go down to the B pool, and we see this very similar division, the top three, and then the lower three. So from an official standpoint to adjust within a tournament. Or from tournament to tournament based upon that skill level.
It is a challenge overall. And you know, hopefully we can see that gap closing over the next couple of years. but I would say that is a, a big challenge. And you’re talking about a sport that is still relatively new. Unfortunately, there’s some countries that don’t have. The funding provided to them, like top countries, us, Canada, Czech Republic, Japan, Korea, China, you know, so they, some of these national teams are literally only getting together two times per year.
For practices. And, uh, that does create a, a, a challenge for the sport and hence a challenge for the officials that parody. There’s, uh, at times a large gap in the parody of countries.
Jill Jaracz: how does the association try to help make that parody level smaller with very limited resources?
Brad Roethlisberger: When you say the association, do you mean world para ice hockey, world
Jill Jaracz: para, or even national federations?
if people can only get together a couple times a year, that’s obviously, you know, lack of funds to, is part of the issue. how do you try to make opportunities for countries and develop the sport better so that we have that. Because we’ve, we saw it at Beijing.
Obviously there’s just a huge gap in skills, but like how do you, how do you try to close that gap?
Brad Roethlisberger: I think the biggest thing, and, and this is just my opinion, I, I don’t necessarily know, but Getting the word out, really letting the athletes know the community, know that this sport exists and there’s opportunities for, that disabled athlete.
There’s still so much of that, uh, where players don’t even realize Para of ice hockey is a sport. That’s in existence. So I think the biggest thing is just really communicating that and getting the word out. other barriers then of entry into the sport that we discussed quite a bit with on the world.
Para ice level is the costs involved. Talking about some countries that their, NGBs don’t have the funds to purchase a 600 to a thousand dollars sled, and that’s just to get to a player out on the ice. they don’t have that funding available like a us, a Canada, et cetera. So. That is a barrier, getting the word out some of the countries, unfortunately, there’s a stigma to, with the disabled athletes still at times, and that’s not unique to Paris Hockey.
It’s with so many different sports. so those are some of the barriers that I kind of continue to see. That are, uh, holding back the sport in terms of continuing to build and grow.
Jill Jaracz: how have you seen women get into the sport over your time in the sport?
Brad Roethlisberger: I would say that a lot of it. Is, you know, word of mouth. That’s a big thing is, you know, one female disabled athlete that’s out on the ice is, is gonna have that network of friends, acquaintances, and, you know, spreading the word.
I think, there is a little bit of what I would say, a chip on the shoulder of a number of our female players as well, that want to be recognized, feel that they should be recognized, and it’s been long overdue. So now as we’ve seen this movement build for women’s para ice over the past three or four seasons, young athletes.
Are are seeing, hey, there’s an opportunity for me to be involved in a sport at a Paralympic level, and what can I do to get involved in this sport?
Jill Jaracz: For the countries that have had women on their teams. The women don’t get a ton of ice time, do they? No. What stands out to me is China, and they made kind of a big fuss in the arena that, oh, China’s got a woman and then they put her out just as a, I don’t wanna say a throwaway, but in, in and end of game game’s.
Already been decided. Let’s give this person some ice time.
Brad Roethlisberger: you don’t wanna use that term, Jill, but I will. I mean, you know, it’s not my name that’s on this, uh, podcast here. So
Jill Jaracz: this week it’s,
Brad Roethlisberger: once again, flash the disclaimer, put the disclaimer out here. You know, that part was, it was disappointing for me. being in Beijing and, and seeing that, from my viewpoint, the optics of it, it was just really, not much more than a show. and, you know, on International Women’s Day, they, you know, had this big hoopla and everything else.
and, and I just felt it was very disingenuous all the way across the board. And, and it, it isn’t to take anything away from, you know, the young lady that was on the ice, she, she’s a very talented player. but we’ve seen this in other countries as well too. I know our neighbors to the north, uh, have added a, a female player on the men’s national team and.
Uh, once again, an extremely talented female player. but in games, you know, to get one shift, uh, it just, to me, it’s sending the wrong message overall. once again, my opinion, not the opinion of, you know, the hosts of this. Oh,
Alison Brown: oh, yes it is. Okay. Well, oh, yes it is, Brad. There you go. Alison, you run with it.
It’s
Jill Jaracz: just morning.
Alison Brown: So when you’re looking at 2026, what keeps you up at night and what are you excited about?
Brad Roethlisberger: Uh, typically heartburn is what keeps me up at night. from the officiating side, we’ve got tough choices to make for the crew. you know, where it stands right now, we’ve got a good idea of, of who is going to be locked in, but there’s four or five final spots that I will say are up for grabs.
It’s a competition. and in the sport, in the officiating world with para ice, we as coaches really get to know the guys and the women as well too. It isn’t just a matter of off ice officials, us being coaches, instructors, and you know them being an on ICE official, but you develop those friendships so we know at at the end, I.
Of the day in a couple of months here, when we have to make the final selections and put those names in, there’s gonna be guys, at least for this go around in 26 that are gonna be disappointed and sharing that disappointment with them. And I’ve been on, on that side as a non ice official. When you don’t get the call, to participate in, something like the Paralympics, it’s tough, it’s heartbreaking.
So, you know, when you are the person kind of on the other end delivering that bad news, I. That is probably one of the bigger challenges for myself is knowing the disappointment. Guys are working hard for three, four years to get to that and, you know, knowing that, uh, they’re not gonna have that opportunity.
That’s a tough one for me.
Jill Jaracz: do you also have the issue of people who have been involved in the sport? As officials for a long time, and now that there are more and more officials, the competition is fiercer. So even if they’ve upped their game, there’s more choices to make.
Brad Roethlisberger: Yeah. And from a, a coaching standpoint, I will say I actually.
Like that, to see the pool growing because it does create a little bit more competition within the officials. You know, if you’ve got a pool of 25 officials and we only need 20, well, there’s a pretty good chance that somebody is going to get in a game. Now if you’ve got a pool of, you know, 50, and once again you only have 20 spots, that’s creating much more competition within the pool and it elevates, or at least it should elevate everybody’s game, to a higher level and a higher standard.
And those guys that have been around for, two or three para cycles. We don’t want them to get complacent in, in the back of their mind saying, well, I’ve done the past three paras, so I’m a shoe in here. and we’ve seen that happen in the past. so as the the pool grows, we also are.
Knowing that hey, these senior officials are gonna have to step up. And then along with that, we are gonna have to have that tough conversation with them at some point in time of saying, Hey, this has probably been your last major event, because we do need to get new officials in. it doesn’t do us any good to be recruiting all throughout the world if there’s no opportunities for, uh, the men and women, I.
Jill Jaracz: What are you looking forward to in terms of gameplay? Do you think about that? I mean, obviously impartial, but what do you see compared to Beijing for what the competition should be like?
Brad Roethlisberger: well, I have. I have seen the Czech Republic, uh, really increase their, overall talent on the ice. they are a force to be reckoned with.
If we take a look at the past two world championships, they have played both Canada and the United States extremely. Um. Tight, with China, you never know. they’ve gone through somewhat of a coaching rotation over the past two or three years. so what team we will see in Milano, Cortina is yet to be seen with those changes.
But they have some very talented athletes as well. They’ve got very good team speed. also, if they can stay outta the penalty box this past year. That was one of the challenges that they had in the past world championships, is some just very undisciplined penalties if they can do that leading, uh, stay outta the penalty box, leading into Milano Cortina, they will certainly have a str, a very strong chance at earning a medal as well.
Still, the top two teams are gonna be US, Canada, the way it stands right now, but uh, you just never know. At a Paralympic event, I. What teams are gonna rise up? you just never know, what team is gonna sneak in there and potentially do some damage. And in a short event like that, it just takes, takes one upset game to really, cause a tournament to, be viewed in a different light.
Alison Brown: But we won’t see any chippiness.
Brad Roethlisberger: No go, you know, no. None whatsoever, all
Jill Jaracz: clean.
Brad Roethlisberger: Everybody’s on their best behavior when it comes to the Paris.
Jill Jaracz: we’re looking forward to the Women’s World Championships are, what are you looking forward to? The Women’s World Championships?
Brad Roethlisberger: I am looking forward to, you know, this first ever.
Championship event. for myself, it’s been fun being involved in the past three world challenges, being heavily involved in the first two from an organizational standpoint. I am just so excited to see the number of new. Athletes out on the ice, the countries that are stepping forward and supporting those female athletes.
and I, I’m just, you know, heading over to Slovakia, I am looking forward to the continued growth of the game for the female athletes.
Jill Jaracz: What do you think the chances are of them getting into 2030?
Brad Roethlisberger: that’s a, a, a good question and one that I’ve been asked quite a bit, uh, lately, especially by number of the, the athletes, the female players that I’ve gotten to know over the years.
My expectations are good. Uh, I think there is a strong probability that they will be included. You know, there’s two key things. First of all, we do have to find a couple of more national teams, uh, overall before the application goes in. Just seeing the growth of the sport over the past two years, even from last year’s World Challenge to this upcoming world championship, I.
, There’s a number of countries that are interested in putting it forth, so let’s assume that we do get to the eight national teams, which I think is very, very viable and doable. It’s still up to, you know, the powers that be to accept that application. But, I personally would be very much surprised if we do have eight national teams or more, and the app application goes in and it was not approved for 2030.
if you would’ve asked me that same question a year ago, I would not have been as. Optimistic, quite honestly. but just seeing as what’s happened from last year in Norway to leading up to Slovakia, I’m very optimistic that we will see the women, playing in 2030.
Jill Jaracz: Fred. Thank you so much for joining us and, uh, we, we look forward to the women’s, women’s opportunities and looking forward to their, uh, world championships and watching it
Brad Roethlisberger: as do, I am very much looking forward to it as well.
So I thank you for, uh, highlighting. Not only the sport, but you know, the upcoming development with the women, in the sport of para ice. So, and all para sports as well too. So keep up the great work that you, uh, you ladies are doing.
Alison Brown: Thank you. Thanks Brad.
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much Brad and Brooke. You got your answer from Beijing. Your question from Beijing answered
Alison Brown: that I have been holding for an, you know, how many years now. I was so excited and you know, any day we get to talk about para ice hockey is a good day for me. And I did get to tell them how fabulous those guys were on the bus to me after I had had that bad day.
Oh, yes, yes. In Beijing. So that was, so
Jill Jaracz: that was really good.
Alison Brown: I, there’s never enough para ice hockey in my world.
Jill Jaracz: What we learned from Brooke that did not make it into the final cut of this interview is that. There are tons of other kinds of disabled hockey, including blind hockey, which has a totally different puck.
it’s a much different game. She talked about, , these different types with us, , extensively. So if you’re a patron, you will get some bonus audio. That’s a bonus, a bonus, bonus audio. and if you’re not a patron, you should be. That’s right. You can, uh, look at patreon.com/flame Alive Pod for the options, or go to flame alive pod.com/support.
How to watch the 2025 Women’s Para Ice Hockey World Championships
Jill Jaracz: If you’re watching the Women’s World Pair of Ice Hockey Championships, that does not roll off the tongue yet. I gotta practice that before next year. we got two groups of teams. Group A is USA, Norway and Australia. Group B is Canada. Great Britain and Team world. Team World has players from nine different countries, or nationalities as they told us.
that is exciting. There’s just about enough there for. Paralympic inclusion. So they’re really hoping that 2030 is the year for them. Hopefully this will help grow the game in countries where, uh, we are almost there for, in terms of getting full teams. All games are stream live on the Paralympic YouTube channel and World Para Ice Hockey Facebook page.
We will have links to those in the show notes. Uh, we also will have a link to the Paralympic Life results page. I’ve tried to go there and the page doesn’t click right. I will say that right now. You know what I mean? Like you click and you see the stats, and then they disappear behind a graphic.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Because you’re supposed to be watching the games, Jill. Don’t go to the live results. Watch the games.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, ma’am.
Alison Brown: Because you know who you’ll see playing.
Jill Jaracz: Ani, Monica Quimbee, team USA Beat Australia, eight zero in their opening match. And Monica scored the last goal of the game, which impressive. ’cause she is a defender.
Alison Brown: She was everywhere. It was great. I love whenever, whenever the announcer was like, and Quimbee does this. I’m like, yes, she does. That’s right.
Jill Jaracz: So keep an eye on that. It is a fun, fun watch.
TKFLASTAN News
Alison Brown: Welcome to Shukla On.
Jill Jaracz: It is the part of the show where we check in with our team, Keith, the Flame Alive. These are past guests and listeners of the show who make up our citizenship of our very own country. Shukla on some exciting news this week.
Alison Brown: Former Luger, Shiva Kevan has taken a role with the International Ski Mountaineering Federation as its head of Sport and events, which he’ll start on November 1st.
Jill Jaracz: Which, you know, that makes me wanna go see Schmo even more,
Alison Brown: because then maybe we can actually say hello to Shiva in person. Right? Like, you probably don’t remember us. We interviewed you like eight years ago.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. Team Schuster made it to the semi-finals of Curling’s 2025 Euro Super Series in Sterling Scotland, but lost to Team Moat five to four.
They were very excited about how they did and they said, this is looks really good going into the season.
Alison Brown: Ellen Geddes will be competing in her sixth wheelchair and ING world champs in I Exxon, South Korea at the beginning of September.
Jill Jaracz: And photographer Mark Edward Harris won second place in the sports competition category at the 2025 International Photography Awards for his coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
If you don’t follow him on Instagram. Should because he is a good follow. His pictures are from Paris are just gorgeous. He is really good at getting different angles.
Alison Brown: The gymnastics stuff is really special.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, yes, yes, definitely.
Review of the week
Jill Jaracz: And we’d like to give a shout out to our review of the week.
Alison Brown: The Jhon on Apple Podcast said Jill and Allison always managed to get top-notch people to chat with. Olympic and Paralympic fanatics will love this show, not to mention their daily episodes during the games.
Jill Jaracz: And if you have not heard a daily episode during the games, look forward, they’re coming up in less than 200 days now.
Alison Brown: Oh, oh Lordy.
But that does mean I am that much closer to more. Para ice hockey.
Jill Jaracz: There you go. So, if you would like to hear your name and be part of our review, comment, email, or voicemail of the week, leave us a review on your podcast app.
Shout us out on social media, or send us an email or voicemail. All of that information on how to get in touch with us is in the episode details. In your app. So that is gonna do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening,
Alison Brown: and until next time, keep the flame alive.