I have been interested in the discussion concering two officials versus one official. The one thing people have not noticed is that the 2 referee one linesman system has been run differently in each conference (reffering to the duties). Most obviously this has led to some poor offsides calling, which has been complained about on the list. In the strict "MANUAL" sense: (1) The linesman in this system is in charge of the lead blue line. (2) When the play gets set up in a zone: the will be one referee on the goal line looking for goals, stoppage of play and penalties occuring near the puck; The other refferee is on the blue line watching for penalties behind the play and calling offsides on a close play at the line; The linesman is on the red line waiting for the play to go the other way, as he will call offsides on the far blue line. -This system works well because on a "break-in" style play the linesman can stay right on the line and watch offisides while the referee (who was on the blue line) can follow the play into the zone watching for penalties and goals and not worrying about offsides while the other official (who was on the goal line) can follow the play and watch for cheap shots behind the play. Thus, the only time a referee has to call offsides on a break-in situation is when the linesman has just dropped the puck. HOWEVER, Some crews have chosen not to do it this way. They have the Linesman in between the two officials covering the near blue line. This means the lead referee has to call offsides, penalties and goals during a break in play, which means many offisides are called improperly. This may be why many of you are against the 2-1 system. Personally, I think the 2-1 system is better, because alot less penalties are missed behind the play just my $0.03 Ryan Stone