{"id":312619,"date":"2025-11-28T16:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312619\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T16:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:49:23","slug":"from-cebl-to-cfl-two-sport-official-mike-ciona-whistles-while-he-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312619\/","title":{"rendered":"From CEBL to CFL, two-sport official Mike Ciona whistles while he works"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Michelle Berg\/Saskatoon StarPhoenix
\nMike Ciona, a professional official who has worked in both the Canadian Football League and the Canadian Elite Basketball League, poses for a photo in his CFL referee uniform at Griffiths Stadium. <\/p>\n

Darren Zary<\/p>\n

Saskatoon StarPhoenix<\/p>\n

Multiple sports. Multiple whistles.<\/p>\n

And, with that, Saskatoon\u2019s Mike Ciona has something in common with the legendary Red Storey.<\/p>\n

The late, great Storey was a former TV broadcaster who worked as a referee in different sports at the highest level in Canada, much like the modern-day Ciona.<\/p>\n

In his day, Storey worked as an official in the National Hockey League, and also carried a whistle in the pre-Canadian Football League days. He also won a pair of Grey Cups as a player with the Toronto Argonauts in 1937 and 1938.<\/p>\n

Ciona, who also has a TV broadcast background, has cracked the pro officiating ranks at both the CFL and Canadian Elite Basketball League levels.<\/p>\n

A two-sport official, at the pro level, is rare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unique, but I never really gave it too, too much thought,\u201d says Ciona, who recently wrapped up his seventh season in the CFL after previously officiating football and basketball at the U Sports and high school levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the next natural progression in both sports as I was going up (the chain) \u2026 It was two separate ladders that I kind of progressed at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CFL came calling for Ciona in 2019.<\/p>\n

So did the CEBL.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn between the time I got hired (by the CFL), the CEBL formed. My first pro game was actually a CEBL game before doing my first CFL game \u2014 again, in the same vein and the same time,\u201d recalls the 44-year-old Edmonton native who has spent the past two decades in Saskatchewan, first in Regina, then Yorkton before settling down in Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

Ciona admits that he is recognized more for his TV role than as a football or basketball official.<\/p>\n

And he says that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the broadcast side, definitely,\u201d says Ciona, who was a fixture on CTV Morning Live Saskatoon before joining CTV\u2019s Your Morning Saskatchewan team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re such a community-rooted place in Saskatchewan, and I think more people see me there. When we\u2019re out on the football field, we\u2019re all in the same outfits. We\u2019ve got our hats on and no one\u2019s looking for us. You don\u2019t want them to. If someone notices you, it\u2019s not a good thing. We try to blend it so the focus is on the players and it\u2019s on the game. We\u2019re just there to ensure it runs smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciona spent five seasons as an on-court referee in the CEBL, which has the Saskatchewan Rattlers as one of its original teams.<\/p>\n

For the past seven years, he\u2019s worked as a member of the CFL\u2019s on-field officiating crew.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long journey for Ciona, who remembers first getting the itch to become a referee as a preteen in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my dad\u2019s good friends, Vlad Eshenko, was an internationally-carded basketball official,\u201d Ciona says. \u201cHe was always jet-setting around the world, seeing the world and getting paid and being active and staying involved in sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the first thing I ever officiated was Little League baseball. I must have been 10 or 11 years old. I was reffing basketball at the time, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball umpiring didn\u2019t last very long, but Ciona continued on the basketball courts. He never tried his whistle at hockey, despite playing it as a youth.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, and if you saw me on skates, you probably would know why,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cYou have to be the best skater on the ice when you\u2019re a hockey ref and I was never the best skater on the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played a little bit of hockey, but I was a basketball and football player.\u201d<\/p>\n

He played both quarterback and tight end at Harry Ainlay high school in Edmonton. He played a little bit of basketball at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always in sports,\u201d Ciona says. \u201cI enjoyed playing. I was never the world\u2019s greatest athlete, but I was good enough to play high school football. I didn\u2019t actually make my high school basketball team at Harry Ainlay, but I walked on at Concordia College in Edmonton and made that team, just to prove to myself that, \u2018hey.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hey, you, wanna ref football?<\/p>\n

When Ciona moved to Saskatoon he was on a work assignment at Griffiths Stadium, covering the Football Canada Cup, when he bumped into radio personality Steve Chisholm, who was officiating in that tournament. Ciona told Chisholm that he had done some basketball officiating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018if you\u2019d like to ref football, come on out,\u2019\u201d recalls Ciona. \u201cSo Steve Chisholm recruited me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciona counts Chisholm as one of his mentors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are numerous,\u201d stresses Ciona. \u201cAs far as the path to the CFL, (fellow Saskatoon-based official) Tim Kroeker has been instrumental for all of us in the northern half of the province. He paved the pathway here, basically, for us. Also, there\u2019s Al Mitchell and Randy Warick and Bob Klein who were instrumental and helpful in my football career, specifically, to get the opportunity to get here.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd on the basketball side of things, I mean, where do you even start? I think you\u2019ve got to start with a guy like Mike Kyllo and Brad Smith, maybe even peers on that mentorship level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CFL crew currently includes another multi-sport official in Troy Semenchuk (Prince Albert), along with Saskatoon-based Ciona, Kroeker, Walt Hawrysh and Iain Cropper, plus Regina-based Ron Barss, Dan Mulvihill, Ryan Stark and Dan Fleischhacker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the heartland where football fans are,\u201d Ciona says. \u201cWe see that trickle down in the ranks of officiating.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Ciona like about officiating the most?<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from the obvious \u2014 which is the love for the sport, and being able to be involved and give back to those sports that gave me so much when I was playing and growing up \u2014 it\u2019s the singularity of everything,\u201d Ciona says. \u201cEverything is right now. There\u2019s no better way to encapsulate a moment than to be an official.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no better place than on the professional stage, because every single decision, every single instant has so much impact and so many trickle-down effects, yet you can\u2019t think about anything else. You just have to be focused on that exact moment, and your responsibility on the field or on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciona now has a CFL playoff game under his belt and hopes to do more, including the big one, Grey Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately there\u2019s one game that everybody wants to be working,\u201d admits Ciona.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about those two ladders and those steps. It\u2019s another step.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would be the pinnacle of a CFL official\u2019s career, but not the sole focus for Ciona.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s always on the horizon but I don\u2019t think you can focus too much, as an official, on one game,\u201d he says. \u201cIt truly is a journey, not a destination. And I think it\u2019s trying to live up to the expectations of all the mentors that have come before me and, above all, make my family proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciona and wife Brittany have three kids (Natalie, six, Evelyn, four, and Lucas, five months old). Brittany works as a community engagement manager for the Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a busy life for Ciona, who still finds himself whistling while he works on the weekend.<\/p>\n

Ciona never imagined \u2014 back when he was a young preteen baseball ump \u2014 that he would someday officiate in two professional sports, neither of them baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say success is the intersection of preparation and opportunity,\u201d Ciona says. \u201cIf you keep yourself prepared, and the opportunity arrives, you can be successful. It takes a ton of help from a ton of people. I\u2019ve been fortunate in both sports to have great mentors and great support to get to the top of the professional sports scene in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

dzary@postmedia.com<\/p>\n

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