Sauble Beach resident Kendrick Nicholson has been invited to attend the National Hockey League Training Camp for referees and linesmen.

Nicholson received the invitation as part of an initiative on the NHL's part to introduce and provide orientation for potential referees and linesmen in the future.

Only a handful of officials currently outside of the National Hockey League get to participate in the two day program which will be based out of Collingwood September 8th and 9th.

Nicholson admits that he's a little surprised by the invitation in that he's only been a referee in the Ontario Hockey League for the past two seasons. Prior to that, he was a linesman in the OHL for 6 seasons.

Still, Nicholson relates he was aware that he was being evaluated on a regular basis by both the Ontario Hockey League and the National Hockey League through last season.

Furthermore, Nicholson had a heavy schedule of playoff games, including a couple of games in the Robertson Cup Championship, which was a solid indication that he was being rewarded for his ongoing work as a referee in the OHL.

With the NHL Referee and Linesman camp less than a month away, Nicholson admits he's both excited and trying to contain that excitement.

Nicholson says he can't get over hyped about the opportunity maintaining that he has to keep his focus on doing the job as a referee

However, Nicholson does concede that this a tremendous opportunity for him professionally and as such, he's understandably excited