Well yes & no to Kenny Z's arguments. I refered RPI Intramural hockey for a
few games cause I thought it would be fun (I did D league, no checking) I gave
it up rather quickly since I felt that taking massive abuse from snotty nosed
frat boys who could hardly skate and used hockey as an excuse to take out
their repressed sexual frustration (pretty harsh huh??) was not, after all my
idea of fun. I heartily agree with his assertions the officiating is a tough
job, and basically people hardly ever say hey that ref did a good job. Either
you don't notice them when they officiate in such a way that they don't affect
the games outcome, or they're ripped on when they officiate in such a way that
they do.
 
Now to the disagreement. Maybe this is naive since Ihave never actually read
the rule book, but having been an avid fan for years, and a broadcaster of RPI
hockey for 4 years on WRPI, I was under the imp0ression that hockey had rather
few rules. The are only perhaps a dozen or so penalties, and a few "rules"
like icing, offsides, two line passes, and the like. Certainly compared to
Baseball, Football, and even perhaps Basketball (of which I'm really ignorant)
hockey is a simple sport. So I would think at least to get the basics down
wouldn't be that hard, the tough part is keeping your compsure when some fan
spits ice at you and says "Zalweski you pukehead get a clue!!". Well with any
luck we'll have the chance to be yelling this at you in few years.
 
- Jay H
 
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Badges, We ain't got no badges, we don't need no stinking badges......
Gaia Erda Anat  Danu Kali Mawu
(Earth is Our Mother - We Must Take Care of Her)