At 19, Leo Zublasing keeps control in the AHL

When a 19-year-old calls penalties on players twice his age, you expect arguments. Leo Zublasing has found the opposite. "Of course I've heard the odd comment about being young," he says. "But when I call a penalty, the players are actually very respectful. They might ask me what I saw, I explain it to them, and usually there's no problem."

Zublasing knows both sides. He came up through the youth ranks in Appiano and was still playing himself last season. At 17 he started officiating on the side. Two years later he is refereeing games in the Alps Hockey League.

His view of the job changed quickly. "As soon as I'd refereed my first games, I realized straight away that being a referee isn't easy. You have to make decisions in a split second." Then there is the pressure, he says, and the situations you rarely or never encounter. Sometimes you don't see everything, but you still have to decide so the game keeps moving. "As a player you don't see that. You might only see a bad call, but it's hard to put yourself in the referee's position."

His most recent preparation was the referee camp, two days designed to turn a group of individual officials into a team. "It was a great experience. I met a lot of new faces, especially from Austria and Slovenia. Referees I'd never met before." Alongside the team-building there were fitness tests and video sessions in which the referees analyzed game situations together.

He will certainly be nervous before his first AHL game, Zublasing says, but only until the opening face-off. "As soon as I step onto the ice, the nerves are gone. Of course I'm under pressure, but it's positive pressure." He enjoys working in ice hockey, he says.

And where is this heading? "My goal is to go as high as possible, internationally too." He deliberately avoids setting a specific target, so as not to add pressure of his own. He is studying alongside his refereeing and still intends to put a lot of energy into it. He is 19. He has time.