IIHF want a four-official system.

The IIHF is going to be using a four man system for the 2o08 IIHF World Championships. They were going to begin using the four-man system in 2009 in Switzerland. However they felt that they could push it up and do it in 2008. This could be due to the fact that Canada has a large enough officiating talent pool to support such a system.

What is the best training for a referee?

Well surprisingly enough the best training for a referee is…playing. There is no better way to train to become an official than to play the game it offers important insight into what players are thinking and going through. It allows you to see the game in their shoes. Some of the best officials out there have played decent levels of hockey.

Lets take a look at Wes McCauley. He played university hockey in the NCAA (Div I). It is assumed that if you can play at this level you can obviously referee at that level. He is currently working in the NHL. It is difficult to referee a game that you don’t quite understand. Additionally you develop a “hockey sense” as to where players are moving and where the puck is going. Not to mention the athletic/health benefits of playing.

OHL Cup Referees and Linesmen Selected

Yesterday a meeting was held at the GTHL Office for the officials to go over the tournament rules and procedures.There are 13 Referees and 20 Linesmen.

The abuse…

Here are some clips of referees taking abuse and in some case dishing it back out. Do you blame them?

Good thing referees take a little more abuse!

Referee Training

I think this is why referees take so much abuse!

I want to be a Referee!

I want to be a Referee

 

 

 

I want to spend my days amid beautiful scenery, with short shifts, superb hours and great benefits

 

I want to work directly with people who have so much respect for my age, experience, authority or skills

 

I want to be out-of-shape, out-of-touch, and above all, utterly out-of-my-mind

 

I want to be a complete imbecile, dumb as a bag of hammers and oh yes, legally blind

 

I want to know that my brains are made of excrement and exactly where my head is buried

 

I want no one to listen to me the first time because I am never right anyway

 

I want to hear every profane and degrading word in the English language, and then some

 

I want to know less about the game than every player, coach or spectator that ever set foot in an arena

 

I want to be part of, in fact responsible for, the worst game in the history of hockey

 

I want to be laughed at when I am hit by the puck, knocked down or put down

 

I want to take over the game and have the spotlight shine squarely on me, the true star of the sport

 

I want to see only one colour, provided I am having a good day and can see past the end of my nose

 

I want to pay attentions to self-righteous people with verbal diarrhea, instead of the game at hand

 

I want to watch people smarter than me slam doors, throw temper tantrums and throw insults

 

I want to spend the bulk of my day watching behavior best suited for the schoolyard or barnyard

 

I want to watch players pass the blame more than they will ever pass the puck

 

I want to spend quality time with people who are blessed with far more attitude and contempt than honor and integrity

 

I want to see people take the game so seriously, they threaten the respect and opinions others have of them, their team and their town

 

I want to watch parents try to live out their own failed dreams through their children

 

I want to be paid little and thanked even less

 

I want to hear people complain

 

I want cold hands

 

I want it all

 

I want to come back next game, next week, next year and do it all over again

 

 

 

Yes hockey fans, I want to be a referee, because nowhere is there a more rewarding or fulfilling way to spend the hockey season

 

And I will wonder why everyone doesn’t want to be a hockey referee – just like me

 

Names on the Back of Jerseys

As an official having names on the backs of jerseys is a godsent. Firstly, referees can call the player by his last name if he needs to get his attention. In doing so he can often difuse most situations as the very utterance of the player’s name allows you to identify him. Rather than say 7 Blue, you say Mr. Smith. By saying the name the player is usually calmed down and more open to talking. Addionally you can more formally and respectfully address the player.

Suprising is the amount of respect an official recieves when he is able to identify a player by his last name. It goes a long way to build rapport.

Wait….Did I miss something!

Today I watched a game where there was incident where a player made a stupid play which could have seriously injured and opponent. The referee missed the incident as it happened behind the play. All the parents started yelling at the referee…HOLD ON. Why don’t you yell at your son or daughter who committeed the infraction. Referees can’t do much to make the game safer all they can do is react to incidents occuring on the ice. If you want to make the game safer you will tell your child when they have done something wrong. Remember that when you players take to the ice they are a reflection on you and your parenting ability. If your child starts to act like an idiot on the ice I suggest you talk to him. The referee sees your kid one day a week, you seven. I think the problem may be the parenting not the refereeing?

Suspensions

The part of Hockey every player hates…SUSPENSIONS!

Referees should not (and probably will not) speculate on the length of suspensions. Coaches should consult their managers manua. In Ontario (specifically the OHF) we are blessed with a minimum suspension list. This list conatains all the suspensions possible for a player or team official to get. However some leagues have modified the suspensions to make some suspensions more severe than others. Here are some things to keep in mind when suspensions are assessed:

• Misconducts usually noted as an M followed by two numbers (e.g. M22,M20…) don’t incurr additional games. Unless it is their second misconduct in the same game (which should be noted with GM26).
• Any Game Misconduct has a suspension associated with it. They are usually noted much like Misconducts except that it is “GM” followed by two number (e.g. GM50). However there are two suspensions that occur thay may or may not be noted with the GM coding they are Instigator and Aggressor noted INS or INS36 and AGG or AGG37 respectivly.
• Gross Misconducts and Match Penalties also have suspensions associated with them. However it is not unusual for the league to assess additional games, if the player is a habitual offender, or the incident was so hanous that it requires additional games.
• Game Ejections (GE56 in the OHF) do not have additional games assoiciated with them.

Finally if there is every any doubt as to if the player is suspended or not. It is best to sit the player out and wait to hear from the league office as to the players officials status. Remember if the player is to play the game may be forfited if ineligble and the player and coach suspended. Don’t take the chance.

The Ideal Referee

Let’s “take a look” at the official who is alleged to he responsible for the inability of players to score goals and teams to win games. He is the living barrier who mysteriously transforms victory to defeat. What are his qualifications and is there anything to be said in his defense?

In the first place, the ID EAL referee must be an apt student, who is letter perfect in the laws of hockey and their interpretation. Unlike judges in our courts, h e must see the crime; identify the offence and hand out the sentence – not later in the day, tomorrow or next month, but all within seconds.

Next, the IDEAL referee must be a good skater and physically sound. A player can get frequent relief, but officials must be on the ice for the entire game. Moreover, hockey officials are expected to act as peace officers and prevent crime by restraining angry players who are intent upon “beating up” their opponents.

An IDEAL referee, and there is no such person, should have the speed of a sprinter, the endurance of a marathoner, the tact of a diplomat, the mind of a professor and the unruffled demeanor of a supreme court judge. It would also help if he had 20-20 vision and was stone deaf.

Fans, players, coaches and management alike expect too much of officials. Few players ever think their sentence was deserved; coaches shriek in anguish at a borderline off-side call; and fans view with alarm, every decision that goes against their favorites. Yet contrastingly, a judge has his judgment appealed and his decision repealed without loss of prestige. No less than perfection is expected from the versatile hockey official.

It is an old but valid argument that referees don’t make the rules; they are merely agents charged with the responsibility of enforcing the laws as provided by the rule book. The fact that players trip, charge, smear or high-stick is not the referee’s fault any more than a police officer is responsible for the actions of offenders who break society’s laws.

Few men are so constituted that they can suffer silently while they are publicly criticized. While it is unlikely that hockey’s governing bodies will do much to ease the referee’s life while the sport is enjoying a prolific boom, it does seem that there should be less official criticism of referees and linesman. For instance, it isn’t fair to second guess them with slow motion film. The man on the ice has to call the play instantly; he can’t wait for the crowd to tell him and he can’t see what goes on behind his back. Neither can he ponder over border line incidents in his private chambers or delay a decision momentarily while waiting the instant replay. He just has to do the best he can, based on his years of experience. H e doesn’t expect to be popular; but he has a right to be recognized as the representative of the law makers and to be spared from public humiliation and criticism from those who are themselves involved in the development of the sport.

Source: Hockey Canada-Parent and Official