> Now, I'd like to find out how intramural ice hockey programs
> are run at other colleges, especially with regards to
> officiating.
>
> Kenny Zalewski -- Head Referee, RPI Intramural Ice Hockey Program
 
Ohio State boasts the largest intramural sports program in the
country.  Fortunately, hockey is one of the sports.  It has a
high enough participation rate that it is graduated by skill
level into four leagues - A,B,C and D.  The pace of the game in
A league is farely fast; it is about the pace of a collegeate
club league.  D league is for people who have never really
skated before.  Spring qurter has a slightly smaller number of
participants.  The biggest losses are in the lower leagues, so D
league is eliminated and C becomes a novice league.  All leagues
have no checking and only A allows slapshots.  (I think this is
silly, but you know how insurance goes!)  Equipment (helmet,
shin pads and gloves) is available for those palyers who have
none - the only thing the player must provide is a stick (of
course sane players will invest in a pair of elbow pads.)
 
Sign-ups are held at the beginning of the quarter at which time
players are asked to go through a skills test to determine which
league they will play in.  There is no need to sign up as a team
and many people sign up as individuals or in very small groups.
There is a way of keeping theses groups together, but it does
not always work.  (Last year, the league officials lost the
sign-up sheets and everybody's team got scrambled - the
officials claimed no responsibility for this.)  There are some
teams which are established and participate year after year, but
most are made up of individuals like me who just want to go out
and play hockey and don't know too many other people who are in
the same ability group.
 
Regular season play is set up in a round robin format with the
top teams making the playoffs.  Playoffs are single elimination
and will include either four or six teams depending on how many
teams are entered in the league and how the people running the
league happen to feel in any particular quarter.
 
The entire program is run by an assistant manager at the ice
rink.  He hires the officials (oddly enough they all work at the
rink.)  They do an O.K job, but nothing spectacular.  They don't
need to be too good though as only a handful of the players
outside of A league really know the rules anyhow.
 
All in all, I think OSU runs a pretty good program for IM
hockey.  It is not quite as well run as other sports though.
There is kind of an "old boys network" of people who work at the
rink.  Oftentimes, I get the impression that they think the
league exists for their enjoyment rather than for the players.
But people tend to lose perspective sometimes when running this
kind of program - particularly when they are also participants.
 
Good luck at RPI!
 
- Patrick Fleming -----------------------------------------------
- Department of Chemistry ------------- If you were right, ------
- The Ohio State University -------------- I'd agree with you  --
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