From my observances, the new standard (ie: no longer "letting them play") is why a lot of fans are upset. They want the "old standard" to come back.
If anybody really thinks the referees don't know the rules, they cannot have a credible opinion on this subject. NHL referees go through a 2-week training camp every season, just like the players.
Officiating hockey cannot be compared to officiating any other sport. The in-game action of a hockey game is at least ten times faster than any other sport. Hockey also has a lot more judgment calls than most other sports. Just like any other sport, mistakes will happen. It's part of the game, like it or not.
Agree or not, NHL officials are the best in the world. That's why they are in the NHL. If you put an average fan (say anybody on this board who complains regularly) in the officiating director's seat, he will fire half the league's officiating staff, and then he would have to hire a bunch of lower-quality officials to fill the void. Think of the gong show that would follow.
Why are there so few officials ready to make the jump to the NHL? I wrote a letter to our local minor hockey association which I hope will help explain why, and open some eyes as to how difficult it is to keep new and young officials around......
Our Officials’ Association is upset with the nature of numerous complaints regarding officiating so far this season. While we realize concerns regarding officiating are part of the course for the job we do, our expectations are that these concerns are brought forth with maturity and respect. So far this season, we have encountered more of the opposite than the expected. To be more specific, the majority of concerns raised have contained “shopping lists†of calls and non-calls (which are mostly judgment calls anyway) and a suggestion of how good (or bad) the official(s) in question are, and a recommendation of the level of hockey said official(s) are capable of officiating.
The message we would like to send is that our qualified supervisors within the Officials’ Association, and only our qualified supervisors, are capable of objectively evaluating and judging the performance of any individual official. Having coaches suggest to us how we should handle their concerns is disrespectful to our efforts in providing regular supervisions to evaluate and develop our officials. We are in a unique, but not unexpected position this season, where the vast majority of our officials are in their first season of officiating. This position requires patience from all parties. A recent complaint we received mentioned how a game got out of control because the referee of said game was not calling enough (or appropriate) penalties. We raise the point that coaches are required, under Hockey Canada rules, to control their players and their actions. If coaches cannot do this, especially knowing they will have inexperienced officials, they are contributing to the problem instead of being part of the solution.
Young and inexperienced officials need a positive game environment in order to make their officiating experience desirable. The reason we have such a high turnover of teenaged officials every season, is because the experience simply is not desirable more often than it is desirable. Part of the reason for that is the in-game complaining and occasional attempts to intimidate that these officials experience, not just from players and coaches, but parents as well. Coaches are also responsible for the conduct of the parents in the stands. Unfortunately, the inexperience of a lot of our officials works against them as they often do not assess the appropriate misconduct penalties to players and coaches who employ these tactics, and they also do not often eject parents from the arena who are displaying a negative example by berating the young officials on the ice. Such conduct from players, coaches and parents must be eliminated from the game if we want to keep our young officials around. The first effort to eliminate such conduct must be made by the coaches and parents, which will influence the players to show more respect for the officials as well. If this effort is not put forth by the coaches and parents, our unique situation with the majority of our officials being inexperienced will become the norm every season.
We are more than willing to listen to concerns raised by coaches. However, we would appreciate that those concerns raised not include suggestions and recommendations on how the Officials’ Association should handle the officials we supervise and develop.
We look forward to working together to help make the game better.
Thank You.
This is common throughout minor hockey in North America and will have a reverse domino-effect in the near future as the number of officials capable of even officiating junior/college hockey will decline, nevermind the NHL.
