I have to disagree with Mike and Eeyore (who points out that three refs
work well in basketball.  YIKES).
 
1. Mike, if penalties were not being called behind the play, perhaps the
officials were not doing a good job of watching the whole play.  Now you have
justified that and created a situation with two officials not watching the
whole play. If the lines calls are screwed up,  are you going to add
another linesman?
 
2.  Three referees do NOT work well in basketball.  Maybe in the NBA (I
haven't talked to Phil Jackson or MJ lately).  Certainly not in college.  The
biggest complaint I here from college coaches is inconsistency in
officiating.  Specifically, the fact that three different refs are often
calling three different games.  Basketball officiating, flat out, should make
us all happy about the state of officiating in college hockey.
 
3.  I have seen the two-official system.  I am not impressed.  I am least
impressed with the fact that NOBODY seems to know from one minute to the next
who's calling offsides, icing, dropping the puck and breaking up the tussles.
In my opinion, it's chaos.  Yes, you can get two great officials and a great
linesman working together.  That's likely for the BU-Maine game.  However,
who's working the Lowell-Merrimack contest?
 
The CCHA has been much better since returning to the one-referee system.  The
problem with officiating on a national basis isn't going to be resolved by
constant tinkering with how many or who does what.  If there is a problem
with the quality, the conferences and the NCAA have to concentrate on making
the officials do a better job.
 
As well,  the NHL,  the Olympics,  amatuer hockey and just about every
other form of hockey use the one-ref system.  If the objective is to be a
trend-setter,  I don't think it has worked.
 
In general,  NCAA athletics needs to concentrate less on tinkering with
systems (one-ref to two refs,  etc.) and more time helping officials
become better at what they do.  Train them well,  pay them well (which I
think we already do),  and discipline them when they don't do a good job.
 
 
Scott Monaghan
Assistant Athletic Director
Lake Superior State University
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906-635-2601
 
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