Referees are blowing their whistle more than ever, but is it helping the game?

By Glen Andresen
Prior to the start of the 2004 hockey season, much was made of the recent mandate by the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Rules Committee “to allow all college hockey players to benefit from the rules book and how the book is called.” In essence, this meant that college referees were instructed to tightly call obstruction penalties such as clutching, grabbing and the use of a stick for purposes other than playing the puck.

Obviously, the initiative was brought about to increase the number of scoring chances and improve the overall flow of the game. At the season’s outset, the number of penalties skyrocketed as the college officials strictly adhered to the mandate. Some were outraged, claiming that the game was being ruined by too many “ticky-tack” calls and too many odd-man situations. Others were pleased to see obvious offenses finally being called and they now point to the recent decline in penalties as a sign that the players are adjusting to the calls.

“It really does open the game up more,” said Greg Shepherd, the Supervisor of Officials for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. “Penalties are now down, and not because we’re not calling them. They’re down because the players have adapted to what we’re doing out there. There’s more skating now than ever. It’s making the players go out there and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

Receiving less attention in Minnesota is the fact that the initiative has also been adopted by the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Hockey at the youth levels. Both bodies felt that hockey needed to open up at levels where players are still learning about the game, hopefully creating an offensive setting for all ages.

“We followed the lead of the NCAA and the high school league and said, ‘We want to crack down on those types of penalties. We want to open up the game,’” explained Mark Jorgensen, the Executive Administrator of Minnesota Hockey.
Jorgensen contacted the Minnesota Hockey Officials Association (MHOA) to take a closer look at those types of penalties. Eric Olson, the President of the MHOA, was already taking action.

“We really started to crack down on obstruction back in 2000,” said Olson. “I have seen more positive comments this year than any other year on the officiating and the way that we are calling the game. It’s neat to see that everyone is getting behind the way it’s being done.”

With the possible exception of some goaltenders, few would argue that opening up the game and creating more offense at all levels will benefit hockey. Ideally, a player will climb the youth ranks without being subjected to clutching and grabbing. However, some say that the games still are not being called tight enough at all levels and there is still a long way to go.

One obstacle is the amount of supervision required to monitor hundreds of referees spread throughout the state. For example, Chris Turns, a high school, Bantam and PeeWee referee in Minnesota, is evaluated by the coaches who fill out report cards on the officials. They can also do it online through the Minnesota State High School League. They use those forms to offer their critiques and give feedback to the State League as well as to the local associations.

“The associations have evaluators that go out on surprise visits if you’re getting bad reviews,” said Turns, a five-year veteran of reffing. “You’re probably going to have an evaluator there to find out if you are cracking down on obstruction or maybe you’re taking it a step too far.”

Olson says that monitoring officials at the youth levels is a challenge, but describes the MHOA system as being set up to provide instruction and supervision of officials whenever possible.

“The way our organization is set up is that within each district of Minnesota Hockey, we have a supervisor of officials,” said Olson. “Usually, that supervisor has an evaluation committee that helps evaluate and work with officials to become better.
“If a parent or coach has a concern about an official, there are avenues that they can pursue to let the supervisor know of the issue.”

According to Shepherd, coaches and parents don’t always provide accurate assessments, especially at the high school level. Shepherd’s job is to attend WCHA games and review tapes of 10 to 12 referees. That task is much tougher for leagues in Minnesota that must try to observe officials in thousands of games throughout the year.

“There’s nobody in high school hockey to discipline a referee who does not make the calls,” observed Shepherd. “They’ve done a pretty good job officiating at the youth levels. But some of the parents are scaring the young referees half to death with screaming and yelling. In high school leagues, the coaches want to ‘let’em play’ and there’s no one to support the officials in making all of the calls.”

Former University of Minnesota men’s hockey coach and current Fox Sports Net college hockey analyst Doug Woog suggests harsher consequences for players who take those kinds of penalties.

“(The youth level) has to be where it’s taught, but it’s also the hardest place to invoke it,” Woog pointed out. “You’ve got people who think they deserve the right to play regardless of how they play, especially at the (youth) levels. They almost demand equal playing time. They might go to the box for a penalty, but they won’t miss their next shift.”

What all sides agree on is that consistency is the key. It’s important to consider that the new focus has just recently taken effect. It will take more time for players, coaches, referees and parents to become aware of what is acceptable and what isn’t. A critical point in the initiative’s development will come in the later winter months during playoff time as well as the beginning of next year.

“In my mind, as long as it continues to get called consistently, we’re probably over the first hump because players and coaches know what’s getting called,” said Jorgensen. “My guess is that next fall, we’ll be back to square one because coaches and players will wonder if it’s going to be called like that again.”

Shepherd says that referees need to be getting support from the league as well as the coaches to be assertive in making calls.

“If you want to get something out of the game, you’ve got to call it,” he said. “I’ll tell my officials, ‘I’ll take the heat for you calling penalties, but I’m not going to take the heat for you not calling penalties.’”

For Turns and other referees across the state, the number of penalties called will depend upon the flow of the game. Turns says that while he and fellow refs haven’t been blowing the whistle as much as their college counterparts, they are cracking down and he’s seen free-flowing games, especially in the high school ranks.

“As far as high school, we are calling it a lot tighter this year than in years past,” said Turns. “It hasn’t filtered its way down into the youth hockey levels as much because they aren’t yet into the grappling. It probably will in a year or two.”

Woog feels that issues that affect the appeal of the game should be tackled one at a time. For example, college hockey used to have a problem with checking from behind. After recognizing the problem, the penalties were made much stiffer and checking from behind has been reduced dramatically at all levels. With the recent NCAA mandate, the holding along the boards has been reduced significantly since the beginning of the 2004 season. Now, the focus should be moved to something else that could harm players or slow the game.

“I think they should look at what affects the health of the players and then just have a very low tolerance on something like slashing above the waist,” suggested Woog. “And if there is something that slows the game, attack that aspect. They could focus on the holding of the stick because that’s coming back in. We want to see the kids have fun and enjoy it.”