Make the Call

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Why are hockey fans crazy? Why do hockey parents get so emotional watching their child play hockey? Is it the parents? Is it the coach? Is it the referee? Is it a combination of all three?

The job of the referee is to call penalties. His call is a reaction to a play that does not follow the rules.It does not help your team to yell at the refs for blown calls. Players, coaches and parents should be respectful of referees. It's not an easy job, it is hard to see everything happening especially as the speed of the game gets faster. I have done the OMHA Speak Out courses for both parents and as a trainer. I know the proper behaviour for parents and bench staff toward referees. I like to believe that the referees are doing the best job they can.
But some games make me wonder. In some games I think if this is the best you can do, maybe you should not be reffing. It is obviously not your calling. (No pun intended.)  I have sat in the stands for years shaking my head at the parents yelling at the refs. I still do. Some of the parents in the stands (both teams) are crazy and disrespectful to the refs. But then somewhere in the last couple of years I have found myself yelling the occasional. "Come on ref!!"; "Open your eyes!" more and more.
 Why? I care about the children on the ice. I want them to have fun playing the game that they love and I want them to be able to play without needless injury. I want them to be treated fairly.
Over the last couple of years I have found the quality of reffing has deteriorated greatly. I understand it is a lot easier to see penalties from the stands. It is super easy to be an armchair referee. Both sides of the red line can see the same play differently so I can understand the ref missing the occasional call. The occasional blown call is not what gets my dander up...it's the bigger picture.

Image from Microsoft Word

The biggest problem is inconsistency. How can the kids know what the rules are if the refs are not enforcing them consistently throughout the whole game and consistently for both teams. In some games the refs seem to heavily favour one team over the other. Team A won't be called on things that are definite penalties. Even the kids know that a penalty should have been called because they give the ref the guilty look to see if they are going to get called. When the refs arm does not go up they go on their merry way. Team B on the other hand can't sneeze without getting a penalty.
  What is this teaching the kids? We have to follow the rules but the other team doesn't? It makes the kids nervous to go near the other team because if the opponent falls on their own they figure they will get called for something? they can't play hockey this way. This selective blindness leads to frustration for both players, coaches and parents especially when it is the calling of penalties or the lack of calling of penalties that ends up deciding the outcome of the game.
My son recently played in a tournament. They made it to the final game. From the outset of the game you could see the refs were not going to make like calls for each team. (Was it a co-inky-dink that the refs and the opposing team were both from the tournament home? I wonder.) Fast forward final minute 3rd period.  We are winning 2-1. One of our player got tripped up trying to get off the ice and fell. As he did so, his stick went into the opposing players feet and he tripped. The puck was not near either player. Ref calls our player for tripping. Fair enough, though an accident he tripped a player. On the power play they score tying the game. Mid-way overtime period we get a breakaway. The defense tried to catch up but couldn't quite. Both put sticks forward but instead of touching the puck, both sticks go into our players feet and trips him. No call. How was one instance a penalty and the other not? If the trip hadn't happened we may have scored. If the penalty was called we may have scored on the power play. The ref's job is to call the penalties. It doesn't matter which team, is doesn't matter when the penalty happens. Be consistent for both teams, all game long. Refs should not influence the outcome of the game. Inconsistency makes parents and coaches yell.
As well when refs favour one team, that the team being favoured tends to increase their actions. The hitting escalates because they know they can get away with it. The trips and hooking become more pronounced because they know they can get away with it. The unfavoured team's frustration level increases and they start doing stupid things that usually results in a penalty or a goal against. Yes players need to control themselves, but they are kids and can't always control their frustrations. I mean the adults in the stand can't even control their frustrations. I am frustrated in these situations because I know 9 out of 10 times a kid will come off the ice hurt. Either because one kid is escalating what he can get away with or because one kid is super frustrated because of what the other team is getting away and because of how unfairly his team is being treated by the refs. When parents yell "control the game" they mean call the penalties, be unbiased. When the refs are consistent, when they make the calls needed, great hockey happens. Quite often the refs end up not having to call a lot of penalties because everyone knows the refs won't put up with nonsense and they can just play hockey.
It's your job ref, you are being paid...make the call.