Minor Hockey Moments

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sticks and stones . . .



Anyone who's watched hockey has seen coaches disagree, with extreme vigour, the calls of referees. But this wild stick-throwing incident involving a Utah coach is over-the-top and reminds Canadian hockey fans of the time disgraced Calgary Hitmen coach Graham James stripped to the waist in some kind of self-styled protest.
In minor hockey circles, I've seen a peewee trainer squirt a water bottle in the direction of a referee. It was to get his attention and discuss a call, but the referee saw it differently and tossed the trainer.
A week ago during a tournament in Franklin, TN., a kids' coach from Pittsburgh tossed a garbage can on the ice in protest of calls. I can understand his frustration, although I can't condone his reaction. The refereeing during that tournament was not up to the standard we are used to in London. In fact, for the most part, American minor hockey needs to upgrade the training of its officiating staff in order to grow the sport.
On my son's current team, feedback to officials is frequent with most of it coming from a voice of authority. We're fortunate to have a highly qualified referee as our assistant coach. He's able to provide insightful feedback and keen critiques to on-ice officials in terms of fundamentals such as positioning to make calls, fairness of penalties and basic interpretation of the rules. To get their attention and make his points, he has been known to choose some of the same words as used by the Utah coach in the video.
And chiming in from time-to-time might be some teenagers who themselves are minor hockey referees and know the rules well.
It's all part of the sounds of the rink.

1 comment:

  1. You promised! The bottle squirt .........

    ReplyDelete

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