Last Updated on Thursday, 04 December 2014 09:58
By Mark Lichtenfeld
After 25 Thanksgiving tournaments I suppose I shouldn’t complain that this year was absolutely controversy-free, except for the one fan that my partner kicked out of the stands, but truth be told, I would have let the guy stew because the jerk was simply seeking attention, so why glorify the guy by staring into the bleachers and pointing him out like Bozo Circus’ magic arrows before the grand prize game? Stopping the action is total confirmation that his boisterous antics got under the zebra’s stripes and any high school psychology student knows that tossing the fan into the lobby is a twisted victory for the unruly guy, Zero Tolerance notwithstanding.
Maybe it’s just the way I approach the game, but I’ve never tossed a parent. And over the past few seasons I’ve rarely assessed game misconducts. In fact, I can’t remember filing any paperwork since last February. Haven’t even assessed a major this year. In contrast, whenever I’m in a crowded refs’ room, all the rage is over yesterday’s game misconduct, WWE-style brawls and belligerent coaches getting the heave-ho. Meanwhile, I haven’t seen a decent men’s league fisticuff since Obama’s re-election.
Yup, the operative word is approach. I’ve noticed that it’s usually the younger guys that boast loudest about assessing gamers. Meanwhile, the older officials are often better able to deal with personalities. Call it worldly experience or whatever, but us older guys, as a percentage, seem to know how to have a good time, while still managing the game with creative qualities that tend to promote authority and perspective. I’ve heard it from high school coaches many times in my career that they prefer the social-security crew over high-flying youngbloods on the big-time development circuit.
There’s another issue that often rears its head right about Thanksgiving time. Specifically, the USA Hockey fiscal year registration deadline, better known as Nov. 30. See, a registration year runs from successful completion of the rigorous and as I’ve previously pointed out, ridiculous, USA Hockey registration requirements, through Nov. 30, of the following season. So if I were to decide not to subject myself to USA Hockey’s registration shenanigans next August, I would still be eligible to officiate USA Hockey games through Nov. 30, 2015, based on my successful registration this season (2014).
OK, I’ll get to the point.
The end of November is when you start to hear grumbling from refs that failed the closed book test for their respective levels, and are accordingly, bumped down to the next lowest classification effective Dec. 1. Usually, that entails a Level 3 guy that is suddenly knocked down to Level 2, and suddenly, he’s not offered high school and Midget games which must be officiated by 3s and 4s.
Now, I reiterate that the USA Hockey referee registration process is absolutely dysfunctional, impractical and just plain outrageous. But I am a total proponent of the closed book test.
When I was a young and inexperienced up-and-coming official, the certification requirements for Levels 1-3 were most simple. Pay your fee, show up at a seminar, pretend to pay attention and later complete the open book test with your colleagues at a local saloon.
In contrast, Level 4s, had to pass a closed book test and a skating test. The practical effect was that your Level 4 applicant would need to study the rulebook and actually have to show some diligence, while the others had to do absolutely nothing. And the worst part was that a Level 4 applicant (mainly older guys) that studied hard for the closed book but failed the subjective skating test by a point or two found themselves classified as Level 3, the very same classification as a bum from skid row who couldn’t even spell referee, but somehow every August pays $50 from his welfare check to USA Hockey, another $40 to the local affiliate, sleeps off his drunk at a warm, park district meeting room, gets his caseworker to complete the open book test just for fun, and then calmly waits for his certification crest in the mail.
Exaggerated? Maybe.
But how things have changed. See, for the past decade or so, everyone must take a closed book test at their respective seminar. And for the last couple of years, I’ve suddenly noticed that the instructors have stopped giving out answers to the questions that “you might see on the closed book.”
Even this cynical writer sees merit in the closed book. It means a minimal amount of studying must be undertaken before the seminar. Actually, more than minimal. For all the years I have been taking the Level 4 and Level 3 closed books, I still read the entire rulebook and casebook one or two times straight through each August. That’s 350 pages of insurance company ... ehhh ... USA Hockey legalese. And even a reasonably-educated guy like myself sometimes finds the closed book tests difficult. Example: I remember a question under Rule 612(f) faceoff locations: Where is the faceoff if a puck strikes an official in the neutral zone and then goes directly into the goal? This situation never happens. Still, you don’t study the rulebook, you don’t know if the faceoff is at the nearest neutral zone faceoff spot or if the drop occurs at the faceoff circle nearest the goal where the puck had entered (which happens to be the correct answer).
So every August when I hear some Level 3 hot-shot boasting that “I don’t need to study the rules,” I’m guessing this guy’s going to have a bear of a time on the closed book. And really, is it too much to expect a referee to brush up on the rules before the regular season commences?
Look, I get that some refs are mentally exhausted with the new USA Hockey online mandatory seminars, the Safe-Sport stupidity and whatever else the USA Hockey insurance companies come up with in the future. But you’ve got to at least read the rulebook. Which is why the closed-book exam is just about the only component of USA Hockey that makes sense.
That’s something you rarely read in Officially Speaking.
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