What is going on this season with referees. For some reason has the area lost all the good ones. The Award for the Worst Referee has to be the one that refereed a game at Aston over the weekend. Let's see Referee could not skate and please understand could not skate, he stayed in the netural zone the entire game and used the boards to stand up he could not stop and when he did he would skate in a big circle. But this guy loved to call penalties he called everything, we think he liked just to put his arm up so he could balance himself. And this game was not a middle school game it was a high school game. Where you know at anytime things could get out of hand. And yes it did, due to the fact that this one referee would not allow the other referee to make any calls. He allowed the game to get out of control because he was calling penalties that he should not of and allowed the nasty play to go on. I would rather see a referee call a player for a spear or a punch to a head than a hook, trip etc. Keep the game in check. He was holding conversations with the opposing teams coaches during play, that is so he could hold onto the boards. One parent stated he is like this all the time he thinks it is about him out on the ice and is known to throw his authority around. This referee should not be out on the ice for high school games, keep him at the middle school level or how about mites. The main question was last night when did the Dollar Store start selling referee patches clearly this is where this referee purchased his.

Just curious, what teams were playing in the game at Aston, and what level, jv or varsity?

"... this one referee would not allow the other referee to make any call."

How exactly does this happen?

Give it up - What night and teams?

referees have been horrible this season. going from club to school and back again. is it the influx of all the junior teams and college teams? is it because it comes down to the all mighty dollar? what is the going rate for high school $65 and bantam and midget club is $60. then depending on what level for college can go all the way up to $125 and then juniors $175 or even more. what does this tell you???

HS var $60

Your others are a bit off
$175 for a jr game - sign me up

I don't know, what does it tell you?

If you think it is about the $ you are way off. The guys doing Jr and College games do in fact make more $. However, that is more often than not the only game they work that day. They must arrive 1.5 hours before game time, have to drive up to a few hours without reimbursement and work 3 [20] minute periods with ice cuts. Unlike the guys who work 5 or 6 Bantam and Midget games in ONE day. Now you tell me if it is about $ with those guys! The reason some work those Jr and College games is quite simple, they want to work the highest level games available. Some are also part of the USA Hockey Development program and are pusuing a career in officiating, and believe me, for those guys, especially early in thier careers, it is not about the $.

D1 ACHA ref $125 line $85
D2 & 3 ACHA ref $113 line $76
For these you are required to be there 45-1 hour before game. Yes some drives are about 2 hours.

In this area the NCAA hockey isn't an issue cause there's only a couple schools and those guys aren't working your youth games.

jr hockey in this area varies from
CHA ref $90 line $65
Empire same
Met - $115 line 75 -might be off on that, been a couple years.
EJ and AJ $125 and $85 - that one I don't work so just what I've been told.

You're right about the JODP. They use em up and spit em out. If you don't make it to the top you've got some good stories and a weak resume for the last 3-4 years of your life.

5 or 6 Bantam/Midget games would be quite difficult on a Sat since most youth games at that level are scheduled at the same time.
Tier II games are mostly noon - 2pm on Sat
Tier I games are 4pm later on Sat.

Bantam and midget games on Sunday are normally in the 10am-2pm.

These are widespread generalizations based on many years of experience at some of the big rinks in the area.

So if anyone is doing that more power to em.
"It's all about the benjamins baby"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Zambonihugger,

What other job allows you to make $300.00 a weekend with no accoutability if you screw up?

Gotta Love it!

Slippery, Your sliding into a great point. When was the last time a coaches legitimate complaint about a referee was actually taken seriously? I have seen some pretty bad performances from some officials and they still get paid with no recourse?

It's very simple. Too many games, too few quality officials. The attrition rate each year is way too high; that's a big part of the reason. The best won't be officiating a low level midget/bantam game. Go see an ECAC/ACHA/ game and you'll notice the difference.

I was at several ACHA games this year, and the refs are generally better than those at the high school and midget level. They still aren't perfect, one game it took a ref 8 minutes to sort out 3 roughing penalties.

oldschool - how do you know that nothing happens when a coach complains? How do you know that official doesn't get a phone call, doesn't get pulled from games or gets fewer games from that assignor?
It happens, believe me.
As an assignor would you want to receive phone calls or emails every week about the same guy?

Just make sure the complaint is absolutely legit and an obvious mistake was made. The "whining" complaint may not get the result your looking for. Some assignors may give you that ref again if your just "whining."

Generally better? Most hs/midget officials are not qualified to wear armbands. 2-man system is much easier to officiate.

I knew one assignor who would give the 'whiner' the same official over and over. The squeaky wheel does not get the grease; it falls off!!!

Zam, Who are you kidding?

Perhaps in the past 10 years a few referee's were subject to any disciplinary action which I would bet had to do with personal conduct issues as compared to constantly screwing up a game and not doing their job properly.

In respect for the MAJORITY of referee's who normally do a satisfactory job I don't think they should be thrown on the table for a missed call here and there. But I'm sure if I were to start a post for people to list the worst referee's in the area I bet you will see the same names come up over and over again? Hmmmm would that be coincidence (spelling ?) or fact? These are the people who need to be held more accountable for their performances and start facing disciplinary action for consistantly ruining games because of a lackluster performance.

Again the Majority of the referees carry their weight, but that group of constant screw up's, something needs to be done with them.

I agree that the majority of officials carry their weight. They do a great job, and when you arrive at a game you're happy to see them on the ice.

Unfortunately this is not the group you remember after a game. What you do remember, (often because it is so pitifully bad you can't forget) is that there is a group of officials who clearly shouldn't be on the ice in Varsity games. In my mind this group is about 5% of the officials regularly working varsity games. I observe majority of the poor officials are:

Unable to keep up with the flow of the game, and interfere with the player movement up the boards.

Unable to skate with the flow of the game to the proper position to make the correct call on the blue line or at the goal.

Make poor interpretive calls on penalties.

Don't know the playing rules.

Bate the players.

Skate too many games and are mentally/physically not able to do the job.

The big issue is that the local referee evaluators are completely ineffective in resolving these issues. If they were effective, these issues would be mitigated over time, yet I continue to see the same poor officials year after year.