You're right about the actual sound of the whistle not being the actual time
play stops. I've seen many a goal be wiped out due to the fact that the
whistle blew before the puck was shot. This is usually followed by a chorus
of boos from the fans, but this is true in any sport. I ref basketball myself
and I've been criticized for late whistles all the time. It's a fact of human
beings being out there making the decisions based on what they see, and
figuring out if what they think they see is actually what they see. This can
sometimes take more than two seconds (which in thre split-second world of
sports is an eternity), and can draw much criticism from fans who may think
refs have an easy job.
My main criticism is when a hockey (or any other sport) referee will sometimes
"let them play." Sunday night against St. Lawrence, the refs decided to let a
lot of things go right before their eyes. This can lead to rough play, and
even worse, injuries. Dan Shermerhorn was tackled during the first period,
causing him to have back spasms (from what I heard through the grapevine) the
rest of the night, almost prompting Coach Walsh to keep him out of the game.
The only reason why he didn't take him out was another rough hit later in the
first period, when Shawn Wansborough was ridden into the boards, causing him
to have to be removed from the game. The next day, I saw him hobbling through
the student union on crutches. I asked him how his knee was, and got a "NOT
GOOD" response. In my opinion, the human element of officiating shouldn't play
a part in this when things like this happen right in front of an official's
face, and he's looking right at the infraction being committed.
A lot of people consider poor officiating to be the main cause of a loss when
a team goes down in defeat. I tend to wonder why "poor" officiating may not be
blamed for many injuries to a team, especially when the play was especially
rough compared to the game the previous night. Sunday night one Maine player
got a holding call on a play where a St. Lawrence player got a hitting after
the whistle call. These were both good calls in themselves, but my concern was
with the Maine player being pinned into the bench, with the refs watching this
go on, and no extra misconduct penalties being called. Because a stick was
 
being thrown into the player's chest as a means of keeping him down, and thus
not allowing him to defend himself, this could have caused serious injury to
him. To not call anything for this is totally unacceptable, especially when
the ref is standing there watching it, as he was when he skated over to
break up the fight. He had to take the St. L player off the UM player, along
with the stick the former was using to pin the latter to the bench. BTW, the
Maine player (I think) was Shermerhorn, who had been questionable since the
first period due to the hit he took then.
This is when I criticize officials, because someone could get seriously hurt.
This isn't the pick-up game, where the only rule tends to be "no blood, no
foul." If this were the case, why are there officials out there in the first
place?
With the exception of a few "bad apples," most officials are pretty good and
don't deserve the stuff they take from fans. A lot of the time, when the rest
of the crowd is booing a disallowed goal for Maine at Alfond, I'm usually
keeping my mouth shut, as I usually can see where the call came from.
I know Hockey East linesman Mike Tuell, and a lot of times I'll be talking to
him on Sunday mornings after church, and I might mention a few calls I didn't
understand, or may have agreed with. I usually get a pretty good explanation
from him.
I encourage everyone to actually talk to anyone you who officiates a particular
sport you may have questioned a call in. You may be surprised in what you get
back for a response. You also get a better idea of how tough the job is, when
you can't see the play, and may let things go, even though something may have
been done. There may be no excuse for letting things go that you can see in
front of you, but there may be an explanation for things you might not know
why they happened.
Till later,
John
-rec. sports student official (basketball and flag football)