In tonight's exhibition between St Francis Xavier and Merrimack, won by
Merrimack 7-2 (box/story posted to INFO-HOCKEY-L and on the Merrimack and
USCHO sites), we saw a great example of how the new officiating system (one
referee, two asst referees) promises to be an improvement over the old one
(two referees, one linesman).
 
Late in the game, with Merrimack's Darrel Scoville and StFX's Trevor
MacLean tangled up behind the play, referee Jeff Bunyon whistled play dead
to call penalties and separate the players.
 
At the same time, MC's John Jakopin skated past the StFX bench and was
given a vicious two-handed slash by Frank Manson, who was not on the ice at
the time.  Warrior Eric Weichselbaumer followed up with a slash in
retaliation.
 
Bunyon didn't see the infractions, but assistant referee Jim Villandry did,
and he immediately signaled majors against Manson and Weichselbaumer.  This
is one of the functions of the assistant referee as described in the new
Rule 5-4.
 
Under the old Rule 5-4, Villandry, who previously was a linesman, would not
have been able to even report the infractions unless requested by one of
the referees.
 
The officials were quite busy tonight, calling a total of 42 penalties for
93 minutes against the two teams.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
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