FWIW, I am at a Division III school.  We have used a two Ref one
Linesman situation for some years.  I know the arguments about one Ref
being better for the sake of consistency, but I have very rarely seen
games where the two Refs are calling penalties differently.  In other
words, for all the carping done about multiple referees, I don't see it
as a problem.  

The other germane thing about the current discussion, because there is
only one linesman, the Refs call offsides as often as the Linesman does.
What this says to me is that the division of responsibilities is
somewhat artificial.  I almost never see the AR call a penalty even when
an obvious infraction occurs right in front of them, and I think that is
wrong.  Who cares whether its the Ref, one of the pair of Refs, an AR,
or a Linesman calling the penalty?  All that matters is that all 3 or 4
of them agree to call the game the same way, and by that I mean how much
are they willing to tolerate, or what are they going to emphasize?

Hence, I agree the linesmen are underutilized.  As far as I am
concerned, I would be happy with 3 or 4 actual Refs on the ice and
forget about linesmen altogether, but if you give linesmen the right to
call penalties, then they should actually call them.

Tom Rowe, Stevens Point, WI 

-----Original Message-----
From: - Hockey-L - The College Hockey Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kirk Eisenbeis
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 3:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 4 officials

Tom Blooming wrote:
> Those are eyes that are under-utilized in my opinion.

IMHO, the hockey Assistant Referees need to, foremost, be committed to
watching for offsides.  *Allowing* ARs to call fouls that are obvious to
them is a great thing, but I don't think one should design a refereeing
system that *relies* on ARs to call fouls.  Likely both would suffer:
attention to offsides would be compromised AND the ARs eyes couldn't
have time to watch a foul develop to get the whole story, in the context
of initiation, retaliation and diving.

An AR does have some time to kill when the puck is in the other AR's
zone, and they are then, indeed, relied upon to call fouls near them,
behind the play.

Charlie, your soccer example is interesting, and I like those system
ideas--I'm a soccer ref, too.  You make it sound pretty happy-go-lucky,
though.  I presume the AR is still pinned to the 2nd-to-last defender
(hockey translation: the offside line moves while defenders run and
deke) and also needs to stay close enough to the touch line.  Also,
given my experience, I find it dubious that I should be relied upon to
catch fouls around the ball while I also keep up with the jockeying near
the 2nd-to-last defender.

...but no flags to snap into the air?  That's the worst change. :)

Kirk Eisenbeis