> And for you non-WCHA people out there, what is the situation in your > league? The officiating seems pretty much the same as it did last year... ie. the marginal hooking and holding goes uncalled. The new points of emphasis were supposed take the marginal stuff and require penalties to be called. But the NC$$ never instructed its officials on exactly how they wanted it to be called, so in the NC$$'s vagueness, the officials just kept on calling games the way they had previously. The offside-interference point of emphasis (when a player forces an opponent offside) has always been called as far as I can remember, as officials were always aware of it. It doesn't seem like something new, at least in the ECAC. The most obvious change which can be seen at each game is the pre-game meeting of both team captains with the referee. This is now required under the 1992 rules. At this time, the referee is supposed to discuss the points of emphasis with the captains. As far as I'm concerned, they as might as well chug a beer or two, and talk about the weather. I'm sure the captains hear the same speech at each game, and the officials aren't calling the game stricter enough to actually make a difference. The most that could be said for the pre-game meeting is that it allows a little communication between the captains and the referee, since once the game starts, the referee becomes a robot. A non-human skating entity who has no feelings. Friend to neither the players, nor the coaches, nor the fans. When I'm officiating under NC$$ rules, I also like to use the pre-game meeting as a chance to breakdown the player-official barrier. Usually, the captains are quite responsive and cordial, and some even go back to their benches and discuss the points of emphasis with their teams. > ps: Discussing officating can't be 100% objective, but we can > keep it productive and avoid general ref-bashing, right? Lord help anyone who starts bashing referees. :-) You guys know I can't keep my mouth shut when someone takes a low blow at a referee. But seriously, I'll try to provide any useful input that I can. --- Kenny Zalewski -- Information Technology Services at Rensselaer Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 83 Albright Court, Troy, NY, 12180 [log in to unmask] | [log in to unmask] | [log in to unmask]