For those of you who do not know, I am at a Division III school - UW Stevens
Point - though I also catch some WCHA action on television.  I am amused by
the recent posts about "assoc. refs" not making calls.
 
Div III uses the two referee system.  I doubt these are the best refs (the
best ones will obviously be doing Div I games, surely a more lucrative
venture for them), and like any fan have screamed in dismay about non-calls
on the opponents and bad calls against us.  But you know what I have not
seen?  Inconsistency produced by having two referees.  Say what you want,
the 2 ref system is superior!  There is just too much action going on for
one person to see it all, and linesmen, by whatever title you give them, are
just too reluctant to make the calls on everything they see.  After all, its
not really their job.
 
FWIW, the refs names are anounced at the start of the game (sometimes, at
least) but they don't have nametags.  I suspect this cuts down on the number
of specifically directed insults at them.  Of course, their biggest problem
will come later in life as they start to show the effects of heavy metal
poisoning from all the metal whistles they swallowed during 3rd periods and
OTs across their careers, but that's the subject of another post.
 
My solution:  Go to the two man system, always keep 3 person official teams
together (but allow them to partner up to ensure some level of
compatability) and rotate the job of 1 Linesman, 2 Refs continually.  That
is, each serves as a ref for 2 games, a linesman for one, and all 3 always
get the same pay.  Now you have a linesman who is used to calling penalties
and enough eyes on the game to keep it more even.  And if you find a dyad
(or triad) who have different game philosophies, the league can tell them to
straighten out their act or get lost.
 
Let me shout that one statement again in different words:  JUST BECAUSE YOU
HAVE TWO REFS DOES NOT MEAN YOU MUST PUT UP WITH INCONSISTENCY IN PENALTY
CALLING.  But, in my (admittedly) limited experience as a fan, it doesn't
really seem to happen that much anyway.
 
 
Tom Rowe                                     [log in to unmask]
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