Patrick Bracco writes:
>   On Mar. 27, 1995 Mike Machnik wrote(excerpt):
...
>   I still don't
>   know exactly what the problems were that led the CCHA to revert to
>   1-2, except that I got the impression there were not enough officials
>   in the league who were good enough to be referees.
>
>This is absolutely not true.  Most of the officials in the CCHA have extensive
>experience at the Junior A, international, and minor professional level.  The
>reason for the switch was the inconsistency between the two referees on the ice
>calling different games.
 
To explain my comment...last season, I heard off the list (in person
and by email) the opinions of several CCHA folks that the switch to
the 2-1 system had resulted in a number of linesmen being elevated to
referees although they seemed not to be qualified yet to hold that
position.  This seemed to be a valid concern, since the same was true
in HE and undoubtedly in other conferences too.  In fact, I would be
surprised if it wasn't true, given the sudden switch to the new system.
 
What I did not know was if this was a bigger problem in the CCHA than
elsewhere.  I'm not in a position to say.
 
>The CCHA has added a new twist to the traditional 1 referee system by
>allowing the linesmen to call penalties(and stop play just like the referee)
>that occur behind the play unobserved by the referee.  The cheap stuff
>behind the play is eliminated because the linesmen can call those penalties
>(this also serves as a deterrent).
 
I still don't buy this.  Earlier, I asked how many times on average a
penalty would be called that was seen by a linesman but not a referee.
I did not hear from anyone, but from several of the CCHA games I saw
on tv this year, it seemed that it did not happen very often (and I
could not recall seeing it at all).  I'm inclined to think linesmen
still only call penalties in extreme cases.  The two-referee system is
still better for the behind-the-play penalties committed when the
referee normally would be up ice with the play.
 
I do believe that as Patrick said, inconsistency in the way a game is
called can occur with two referees.  However, a good two-referee team
will work together well and minimize this problem.  I'll take a good
two-referee team over the one referee system, from what I have seen.
And the truth is that among DivI coaches, opinion is split as to which
system is better.  It's not cut and dried, because both systems have
their advantages and their drawbacks.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93