Tom Rowe writes:
>BTW - on the topic of referees and linesmen, in Div III we have two refs and
>one linesman.  It is my understanding that linesmen don't call penalties.
>Since the standard in Div I is that you have two linemen and one ref, then
>(and correct me if I am wrong) there is only one official to keep track of all
>the penalties.  Does this make sense?  Of course not.  That would be like
>allowing only the back judge and line judge in football allowed to call
>penalties, or only the home plate umpire allowed to call outs.  Why did Div I,
>which used to have two refs as standard, go to two linesmen?
 
The two-ref theory is a pretty good one -- having two guys out there to
watch everything and make the appropriate calls can only improve the game,
right?  The problem in Division I was that the two referees would often have
markedly different styles.  For example, one would call everything, and the
other would let a lot of stuff go.  Inconsistency like this causes a lot of
trouble for the players, since they wind up not knowing what they can get
away with.  When the players are so tentative, the game is usually pretty
badly played.  Apparently, this happened often enough in Division I that the
powers-that-be decided to go with the one-ref-two-linesmen system.
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Bill Fenwick                        |  Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
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