> > Mike Machnik writes:
> > > In Hockey East rinks, the league has mandated that the referee will
> > > call the goal and assists are awarded from the press box.  There is no
> > > video replay used in general, although it is taken advantage of when
> > > the game is on tv and monitors are nearby.
> >
> > I officiate hockey as a way to unwind from my stressful job.  (?!)  I would
> > be really surprised if such practices are consistant with the NCAA rules.  I
> > know that the USA Hockey Playing Rules give that responsibility to the
> > Referee.
> >
 
Bob Gilreath writes (I've cut out the actual rule citation):
 
>
> Debate away.  What i read according to the book the referee is the only one
> allowed to hand out assists. and requests for changes can come only from
> the team captians....    Debate away! ;-)
>
> Bob
 
Here is a rule I break with impunity. Bob is right, the literal
interpretation of the rules goes that way. But...
 
As the person who takes the information from the referee on goals/assists
at Bowdoin, I often find that the officials give goals out to the wrong
player. Assists? Even worse.
 
Let's face it, I would rather have the referees looking for infractions on
the ice instead of deciding whether the defenseman who sent a long feed to
spark a 2-1 should get an assist. Some (of the better) officials that I
see often go to the goal scorer and get the assists from him, increasing
accuracy (of course, players will make sure that there are two assists in
most instances).
 
The other problem with the rulebook is the procedure for changing a
scoring play. If I were to go to our coach in the third period of a close
game and say, "Hey, we have to change the second assist on our second
goal, so can I talk to our captain before he goes on the ice," I hate to
think of the reaction. (And Terry Meagher is one of the nicest men behind
the bench in college hockey...)
 
So, I change the scoring when I have direct knowledge of a mistake. (For
example, an assist to a player who is not on the ice at the time.) Then, I
announce the change. Only one official has complained about this in five
years -- and then I ran through other changes through him before I made
an announcement. (He made three mistakes in the contest -- two wrong goal
scorers.)
 
At the Division I level, video replay should be used whenever possible.
Division III has other problems (less than half of our games are even
taped). But, the people in the press box are often able to figure things
out (the situation that Mike Machnik described).
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Craig Cheslog               | Internet: [log in to unmask]  |
| Bowdoin College             | CompuServe: [log in to unmask] |
| Sports Information Director | Voice: 207-725-3254 FAX: 207-725-3003 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|  "Precisely because we know that sports don't matter in a life-     |
|  and-death sense, we can happily act for a while as if they did."   |
|             -- James Fallows in the December 1994 Atlantic Monthly  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------