There was a ref in the CCHA last year who would certainly qualify for having
been near the bottom of the heap. I can't remember his name, but whenever he
came in he was just terrible. He was a younger ref and may have just started,
so there's hope.
 
It was against Ohio State, I think, that I first witnessed his ineptitude. He
would confer with the linesmen after every call for minutes on end, delaying
the game, and really pissing off the players. After bungling numerous calls,
and sending no less than five OSU players to the bench for some strange
infraction, Dave Poulin called him over to the bench to find out what the hell
was happening. In the moment of college sports, this episode was among my
favorites, as Dave Poulin "educated" this young ref on how to call games.
The linesmen and ref just stood there, silent, while Dave patiently explained
his thoughts. All three nodded, pointed, would nod again, and then would
return to call the game.
 
He returned later in the season to ref against Lake State, I think, and was
a little better, but called everything that shouldn't have been called, and
nothing that should have been. It was so bad it was almost comical. I suppose
it could be considered "Reffing Noir", just so bad it had to satirical.
After the second period of the second game, neither Poulin nor the other
head coach would say anything. There were times when each team would have
more than four people in the sin bin at one time, while the remaining players
would nearly decapitate each other and never get called.
 
I wish I could remember his name. It was a simple name and I should have
remembered it. Even the linesmen became agitated. I just remember a great
line we used to chant, and I really wanted to holler it out for this guy:
 
"Get off your knees ref, you're blowin' the game!" That just isn't
appropriate for Notre Dame. So we just got into the, "I am blind. I can't
see. I wanna be a referee!"
 
The CCHA has some dandies on lines. There is a guy in South Bend who coaches
HS Hockey who really does a good job. Troester is his name, and he really
works hard. He suffered a broken nose from a shot, and went down two other
times in a game last season but stuck it out to call a very good game.
Of course, he's local and everyone knows him, but he's still a good linesman.
 
Anyone know which Blind Mouse I'm talking about? God, was he awful.
 
 
There's a SUNYAC ref out of the Buffalo area we affectionately called "Blinky"
because he can't see out of one eye. He's fat, slow, and would be perfect
fodder for Schoenfeld's "Eat Another Doughnut, You Fat Pig" line (and we
used it often at Fredonia). He is simply the WORST ref I've ever witnessed.
 
 
John-Andrew Murphy
Coordinator
International Studies Resource Center
Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
 
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