John's Journal: Three Siblings, Three Hockey Officials

The Szymanski kids grew up in a sports-oriented family in Sauk Rapids. Ryan, Matt, Justin and little sister Kaelyn were athletes at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. They all became hockey officials, which set up a special day for their family recently when Ryan, Matt and Kaelyn officiated together for the first time.

“It was the most fun reffing experience I’ve had,” Matt said. “It was really special to do that with both of them.”

Ryan and Matt had worked together on the ice previously, but never with their sister. All three are teachers as well as officials…

--Ryan Szymanski, 35, is a special education teacher at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School.

--Matt Szymanski, 32, is a fourth-grade teacher at Cottage Grove Elementary School.

--Kaelyn Szymanski, 25, is a special education teacher at Pleasantview Elementary in the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district.

Justin, 30, who lives in Milwaukee, used to officiate. Matt has cut back on the number of games he works after becoming a father last year. They all umpired baseball games and Matt also has worked as an MSHSL soccer official. Becoming officials seemed like a no-brainer after their competitive careers ended.

“It’s pretty much ingrained with us,” Ryan said.

The siblings asked if they could be assigned to the same game at some point this season. They worked a Jan. 28 girls hockey game between Elk River and Brainerd/Little Falls in Elk River, but not without a minor wrinkle because Kaelyn worked two games that day.

She began her day in White Bear Lake, officiating a 9:30 a.m. girls game between Stillwater and White Bear Lake as part of Hockey Day Minnesota. She raced from there to Elk River afterwards. The game in Elk River, scheduled for a 1 p.m. start, was pushed back about 20 minutes until Kaelyn arrived.

“The (Brainerd/Little Falls and Elk River) coaches knew about it and they were just as excited,” Matt said.

Their parents, Steve and Teresa, were on hand in Elk River and took photos of their three kids. Steve is a youth hockey official, and that’s the level where the Szymanski kids got started as officials.

Ryan, at 11 or 12 years old, was on hand with the rest of the family to watch one of his little brother’s Mite games. When no one showed up to officiate, Steve borrowed a whistle from one of the coaches, handed it to Ryan and said, “Get out there.”

“I was wearing jeans, a green sweatshirt and a yellow helmet,” Ryan said. “After the game someone handed me twenty bucks and I said, ‘Dad we’re doing this again.’ ”

Matt watched Ryan working games and began doing the same thing.

“Over time it became a really good job, it taught me lot of life skills I use every day,” Matt said. “It’s fun being around the game once you’re done with the playing side of it.”

Kaelyn said working with her brothers for the first was “a fun day. I got to White Bear at 8:30 and it was about 13 below. It was a very cool experience to be on TV and be outside, working a game. I’m really motivated to move up and having an outdoor game was pretty cool.”

When she got to Elk River, Ryan had a surprise for her.

“Ryan let me stripe instead of line that day, and it was kind of fun being one of the lead officials. I probably felt the most comfortable I ever have, reffing with my brothers. They had my back. I hope we get to do more.”

Kaelyn, an up-and-coming official, attended a USA Hockey camp for young female officials at St. Cloud State last summer.

“That camp was eye-opening and exhausting,” she said. “It really made me want to go up more, reffing high-level games.”

Kaelyn was assigned a recent Minnesota Whitecaps game in the professional Premier Hockey Federation. She said, “Ryan has pushed me a lot, in a good way, saying, ‘You have the opportunity to do all this stuff, international hockey, Olympics.’ ”

The Szymanskis are still smiling about the game they worked together.

“It was really special to do that with both of them,” Matt said. “I had reffed with Ryan before on the high school side and it’s been fun to watch my sister continue to develop and grow. I love to see her and what she can do. … My hope is that she works her way into some international tournament and then I’ll have an excuse to do some traveling.”

If that happens, it’s a safe bet that the whole family will be there.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected]