In article <[log in to unmask]>,
Walter Olson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>NC$$ hockey is about very talented players, well paid and very good
>coaching. Players that do not have the best of skills don't play. Coaches
>that don't coach well, recruit well, retain player respect and can't win
>are fired. Is it asking too much to have officials that have the same
>level of officiating skills?
 
While I agree with your statement that officials involved with college
hockey are expected to have high-quality officiating skills, also remember
that for college hockey coaches, their only job is coaching, and for
players, hockey is the main focus of their college life.  However, ice
hockey officials do not officiate hockey as their full-time job.  (Note
that the NHL is an exception to this.  For NHL officials, officiating IS
their full-time job.)  Ice hockey officiating is something done on
weekends, and evenings on weekdays.  So, expecting officials to possess
the same "level" of skills as that of college hockey coaches or players
is not reasonable.  Still, the various officiating organizations (ECAC,
HE, etc.) recruit only top-notch officials.           -- kennyz
 
--
Kenny Zalewski -- Software Engineer ** President, Capital District USA Hockey
IFS International, Rensselaer Technlgy Park, 185 Jordan Road, Troy, NY, 12180
E-mail: [log in to unmask]  <A HREF="http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~zalewskk/">KennyZ</A>