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smokeynall

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  1. Despite my lack of desire to officiate A & B league hockey there are some positives to calling an A or B league game. 1. It's easier to avoid A & B league players. If you've played at the A or B league levels or any high level of hockey you know positioning and you know where players are most likely to go. You know what they're going to do with the puck and they pick their heads up when making passes and throwing the puck around the boards. It's a lot safer in that aspect. 2. The game is faster, there's usually a flow to the game so you're not just standing around and coasting into position. You're moving quickly to get to your spot to make the call. Here's the negatives. 1. You can't talk to an A league player. It doesn't matter your hockey credentials or pedigree, he knows more than you do always and if you don't think so, just ask him, he'll tell you. So never ask an A or B leaguer how he thought the officiating was. 2. They think they're the funniest things on the planet. They joke with each other with vicious barbs and jabs that really aren't funny. They're full of inside jokes that make no sense. They alsoly take themselves way too seriously. Look guys, you're not in show, you're not going to the show. At best you played CHL hockey and you know what, the glory wears off. I've got friends that are former CHL'ers an you know what they're doing now? Selling houses, working as mechanics and teaching school. Get over yourselves, no one is impressed. 3. They are malicious. They think everything is a personal attack on them. They feel that they've been completely wronged and despite the fact that they are just as wrong as the player that they think wronged them they feel it their duty to seek vengeance. Wrong!!! You're all wrong. Now, C league players and below, well, that's a whole different story. Here's some positives and negatives there. 1. They get it, they get, for the most part, that the game is meant to be fun at this point. They don't take wild chops at each other. They aren't all sneaky with skate pushes, helmet pushes, face washes and back of knee pokes. They want to have some fun, drink some beers and go home to their families and work the next day. 2. You can talk to a C league player or below, they have a sense of humor and they don't take themselves too seriously. They get that the officials are in charge and for the most part they respect that. They alsoly will apologize to one another if they hurt someone. SO, in that aspect that have some what of a conscience. The negatives of course. 1. They don't always look where they're going. This increases the likely hood of a collision. It alsoly means that you're always in the firing line from a puck. I've never been hit with a puck in an A or B game but in C and below, mostly D league, it's a fairly common occurrence. 2. The games are slower. That means the likely hood of hypothermia is a possibility. You have to try to work out there. Pick something to work on. Backwards skating for instance. Try to skate as long as you can backwards during those games. Try to keep your ADHD under control by playing wickets. Try to see how many times you can straddle the puck between your feet while skating and staying with the play. Try to call every goal from the goal line as close as you can to the net. If you do these kinds of things it makes a slower game go faster. In summary, doing C league and below is way more fun. Take that pompous and pretentious A & B leaguers. More adult league hockey stories. http://worstrefeverstuff.blogspot.com/2011/12/game-1-of-3-game-set.html http://worstrefeverstuff.blogspot.com/2011/12/game-2-of-3-game-set.html http://worstrefeverstuff.blogspot.com/2011/12/so-this-little-story-actually-took.html
  2. Its a shame I'm reffing 2 games tonight. I'd like to go to a bar and watch this game. I saw these two teams at Maple Leaf Gardens the last season they played in the Gardens. It was amazing. Go Leafs Go!!!
  3. Okay, had a great time in the last game I reffed. Look folks, I usually love a blow out hockey game. They're even more appreciated when the game starts at 10:45pm. What is never called for is the running of mouths needlessly. It's one thing to communicate with your team mates. It's completely another, when you're the team up by 7 or 8 goals to continue to verbally abuse or taunt opponents and the officials. In a 3 or 4 referee system, if you're pleading your case to a guy that doesn't have orange bands on, it's wasting your time. You'd likely be wasting your time anyway because once a ref has made up his mind you're not going to persuade him with your Jedi mind tricks. Here's the rule so we're clear on this. Again, this is me attempting to give you the answers to the quiz so that you can stay in the game and not serve an unnecessary penalty. Yes, there are some penalties that arguably are necessary. Rule 601 Abuse of Officials and Other Misconduct (Note) For the enforcement of this rule, the following guidelines shall apply. A bench minor penalty shall be assessed for actions that occur on or in the immediate vicinity of the player’s bench (off the ice) or when the player in question is not readily identifiable. Any unsportsmanlike conduct by a Team Official would also warrant a bench minor penalty. A minor penalty or misconduct penalty should be assessed for actions that occur on the playing surface or in the penalty bench area. (a) A minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct shall be assessed to any player who commits the following actions: (1) Disputes the rulings of any official. (2) Taunts or incites an opponent. (3) Creates a disturbance during the game. (4) Shoots the puck after the whistle, if in the opinion of the Official such shot was avoidable. A misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player who persists in such conduct and any further dispute by the same player shall result in a game misconduct penalty being assessed. (Note) If occurring after the game, the above actions shall be initially penalized as a misconduct penalty. So, basically, simply not doing what you're asked to do by the official can earn you a penalty. No where in here does it say you have to use profanity. Simply creating a disturbance in the game. This paints with a broad brush. If you're standing at the referee crease, trying to explain the rules to us "officials" (which we actually read the book and that's where I copied and pasted the above rule from) and we ask you to go to your bench while we discuss penalty assessment, do it. If you don't, and you persist in standing there, demanding that you're the captain and that you have the right to be here and you have to know what's going on right then when we haven't ourselves discussed the penalty assessment yet. You're probably going to join your team mate in the box. Just throwing it out there. I want to save you the time and heart ache. I also have no desire and take no pleasure in tossing you from the game and then ruining the rest of my evening typing up a report about your game misconduct. I'd rather take the time to write a blog post about it that is playful and mildly amusing. I don't want to have to do both. I bet soccer refs wish they had a penalty box to stick guys in. Here's the link to the rest of this blog post. If you care. http://worstrefeverstuff.blogspot.com/2011/11/number-19-white-unsportsmanlike.html
  4. I'm a former goalie, a former coach and now a ref and a dad. And I blog. http://worstrefeverstuff.blogspot.com/

  5. Growing up in a town sans a NHL hockey, team I used to be enamored by NHLers. Over my career in hockey as I played in various leagues and went to pro training camps and practiced with an IHL team on a regular basis I grew a little disillusioned by NHLers. Knowing them on a personal level showed me that they are just as human as I was. With that said, they were all clearly taller and had more talent than I did as I grew up in the mid western U.S. and they in areas of the states, Canada and other countries that had more access to hockey development. In my life time I saw more NHL games in person before I moved to a city that had an NHL team. Since moving to Dallas in 2000 I've seen maybe 4 NHL games here in town despite working for the team and having access to free tickets on a regular basis. Tonight, I got free tickets to the Stars game, mostly on a whim. So, the munchkin and I went to the game. It was pretty crazy taking my "special" daughter to a NHL game with the crowds. It was even crazier having her meet coworkers and people I have reffed over the years. All that aside, it was fun to get out and see an NHL game again. I think I still prefer a CHL game or some other minor league, but again it was fun. *UPDATE: I forgot to mention our meal at the game. You can't go to the game with out sampling some foods from the arena. Hot dogs were the main coarse with a side of peanuts in the shell. Now, when we ordered our meal, the man behind the counter told me. "We keep our nuts in a warming tray so they're warm. If you trust our warm nuts I'll get you a bag." How could I resist? I said. "Yes, I love warm nuts, please hand me a nice warm nut sack." I had to share that story.* In pictures, here's our night. Hope you enjoy and here's a link to my actual blog of random nonsense and hockey debacles. http://worstrefeverstuff.blogspot.com/ Outside the AAC. It is a beautiful arena. Ah, the Zamboni, it used to be my other car. Well, for about 15 years it was. The finished picture with with color and a star. Slightly better but I love the tall linesman on the end. He's freaking huge, he's a freak. He has to maintain a 4 foot space between his shorter officials. This seems a little ridiculous. It doesn't even clean the ice. This should go on my stupid car stuff blog post. Here's the munchkin with her Mike Ribeiro bobble head doll. It was free which is why I allowed it. Seriously, the guy was chased out of Montreal. Whatever.
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