Mark,
 
Since you brought up ECAC (ECACHL?) officials,
this blurb from the USCHO website may interest you:
 
 
March 23, 2006


Bellemore, Earle To Resign From ECACHL
Compiled by USCHO Staff 
ALBANY, N.Y. ? USCHO.com has learned that Butch Bellemore, the ECACHL Supervisor of Officials, and Brewster Earle, the Director of Officiating Development for the ECACHL, will resign their positions once their contracts expire in a few months.
Bellemore and Earle sent their intentions to members of the ECACHL Officiating Staff in an email and letter.
When reached, ECACHL Commissioner Steve Hagwell had no comment on the situation except to say that he and Bellemore have talked about Bellemore's intentions. 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Lewin <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 10:14:35 -0500
Subject: Re: (radio) broadcasts and officiating


I have seen refs from the 4 leagues within the past two years (haven't seen
any from Atlantic or CHA) and frankly think that all leagues are coming
together with the exception of the ECAC.
There are several refs in the ECAC that seem to have bought into the program
with the possible exception that the ECAC is much less tolerant of boarding
and hitting from behind. The unfortunate part is that there is a huge
variation in referees within the league.  There are one or two refs who
still seem to think that hockey is a non contact sport.  As the years have
gone by, I've seen the Hockey East refs go more and more toward a western
style interpretation.
Perhaps this trend partially explains why the ECAC has been in decline in
the NCAA tournament.  Since ECAC teams never see ECAC refs, they usually
face teams that are more used to the physical aspect of the game and play
under refs who allow that type of play.  The only ECAC team that plays a
disciplined but physical style of play is Cornell and coincidentally, they
are the only team with ongoing success at the NCAA level