In a message dated 06/08/2000 12:03:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<<  It is silly to
 have Goal Judges to supposedly be part of the officials crew and yet be
 completely ignored by the on-ice officials. >>

<<Now, allow the goal judge have a real part in the game as an extra set
of eyes, with an easy, quite, unobtrusive communication path to the
on-ice officials and I'll take it back.  But it won't happen.>>

Haven't checked my e-mails lately. I guess I have to defend the honor of the
goal judge.....In any one game an on ice official makes eye contact with a
goal judge at least 25 or 30 times; sometimes more, sometimes less depending
on the flow of the game and the number of whistles around the net or
"clangers", etc.  We are definitely NOT ignored during the course of the
game. We always confirm play (some referees more than others do this) when
there is a whistle around the net by a simple look and a shake of the head by
the goal judge. This "communication" is subdued and unobtrusive - so most
fans don't even notice it.
Granted, there should be a better opportunity for oral communication with the
referee - especially on the north side of the Alfond. On the south side, a
goal judge can make his way over to the players' entrance door and speak with
the referee. On one occasion three years ago, Maine scored in the second
period (against Lowell, I think) and the referee had gotten caught behind the
play so he couldn't get to the goal line. The linesman is supposed to cover
in these instances, but things happened so quickly, he couldn't get to the
goal line in time either. I turned the light on and the referee asked me to
get over to the players' entrance. I told him what I saw and that was good
enough for him.
If you have been to any away games, you may have noticed that the goal judges
can be anywhere from 18 to 80 years old....at Maine the Athletic Dept uses
officials sanctioned by NIHOA (National Ice Hockey Officials Association) -
these are high school referees. That doesn't make us any better than the
average guy off the street, but we are active in the game and are more in
tuned with the idiosyncrasies of the game. It is now recommended by Hockey
East that goal judges at every Hockey East game be NIOHA certified.

Regards,

John