This is commenatary regarding the awarding of assists.
 
I'm pleased to say that in the WCHA, it is mandatory for all teams to have
video replay capability in the pressbox. The referee is responsible to call
the goal, however, the official scorer (who is located in the pressbox with
the video replay) may overrule the referee if it is clear a mistake was
made. In addition, it is up to the official scorer to determine the
assists. In most cases, all goals are reviewed between periods to make sure
assists (and goals) are accurate.
 
I wish all of college hockey would go to the use of video replay to award
assists. Some people complain, especially in a high scoring game, that
there are too many changes being made and, "why can't you get it right the
first time?" I, however, am a firm  believer in accuracy. We have even
taken assists away from players because they are not warranted.
 
I certainly don't think using video replay is 100 percent accurate,
especially when you're at rinks like ours that use the wide angle camera to
pick up as much of the ice as possible. However, it is certainly MUCH MORE
accurate that not using the technology that's easily available.
 
Why doesn't everyone use video replay to determine assists? Perhaps because
then they would would be forced to be accurate and not be able to so easily
pad stats of top players!
 
        Dave Fischer, MTU SID