The assignment of officials has to do with a number of factors, including
where they live and how close they are to certain rinks, whether they are
even available (most have "real" jobs), and whether they may have any
connections to either of the teams involved.  HE has several officials who
graduated from HE schools and you will never see them officiate games
involving their alma mater - for example, Ned Bunyon graduated from BC and
Steve McBride from BU.  This is just to head off any complaints of
favoritism before they may occur.
 
In HE, since 7 of the 8 teams are very close to each other, it is very easy
to rotate officials around from one game to another.  But in Maine, it is
not unusual for fans to see as linesman Mike Tuell, a native of Orono.  I
think he actually does a majority of Maine home games.  As Dan suggested,
this type of thing probably also happens in the ECAC for the schools that
are farther away, and it is my impression that this happens out West too.
But, it is not unusual for referees to be sent away to do other games so
that they don't become "too familiar" with one or several teams.
 
I think that HE has also deemed it important to rotate referees such that
a certain pair does not get too overworked.  I am not sure, but I think
that the ECAC may have a shortage of referees this season, or that perhaps
there have been times when certain pairs were not available, because I have
seen the names of some HE refs in ECAC boxes posted here.  BTW, there are 12
referees listed in this year's HE yearbook.
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Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)    *HMN*