problems in referee-land…

Eric Duhatschek has a great piece on some of the problems in NHL-referee-land.

I was, and continue to be, a supporter of the two referee system in the NHL. But the last year or two, since Van Hellemond came on board, it seemed to be in failing. Beyond that, referees I always felt were quality refs were getting crap assignments, missing the playoffs, etc, while others (Marc Joanette, for instance) that didn’t impress me seemed to be well regarded (I’ll give Joanette credit — he’s really improved since his early games, which were painful to watch).

I just finally wrote it off to not really watching the refs as critically as I used to. But maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t as wrong as it seemed.

This is going to be a tough nut to fix. the referees have a thankless job, and it’s been worse because of the general lack of backbone in supporting them by the league office. As tough as the ref’s job is, the job of their boss is worse, because he has to be that backbone. Van Hellemond could have been, but wasn’t — and it seems like there may have been other things going on as well, what with the “lend me $10 today for a hamburger” thing, and now the implications of favoritism to canadians over americans?

Just what the NHL needs. Of course, if they’re really looking for someone who’s sympathetic to both the issues the refs face and what the league needs as well, who has a decent feel for what a well-reffed game is, and is willing to both call refs on the carpet and stand up for them as needed, I’d stand for the job. But – I’d have two requirements to take it. First, referee disciplinary actions need to be made public, just like player ones are. and second, I need permission to publicize every time a coach or GM calls me to bitch about a call, and be able to post video showing why they were right (or mostly, wrong), so fans have more of a feel just what kind of pressure is applied to these guys.

Because really, coaches and GMs are united in only one thing, I think: they all want the reffing improved and the game cleaned up and obstruction and etc called — on all of the other teams.

their teams, of course, don’t DO that. all those calls are wrong.

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