BY
KEITH LACEY
Officiating remains one of the thorniest topics in minor
hockey, as evidenced at a meeting in Greater Sudbury this past
weekend.
The meeting was organized by Hockey Canada, which is funding a
number of minor hockey summits to be held across the country. A
group of about 20 volunteer coaches, officials and
administrators from minor hockey associations across Greater
Sudbury attended the inaugural Ontario Hockey Federation Minor
Hockey Summit Sunday morning at the Howard Johnson Hotel.
"This is an initiative of Hockey Canada to allow the people at
the grassroots level to tell us which directions they want the
game to go," said OHF facilitator Steve Wallace, who has been
involved in minor hockey as a player, coach, referee and
administrator for 45 years.
Wallace and fellow facilitator Shawn Nesseth, a Level IV
referee originally from Sudbury, led several sessions for
volunteers involved in the sport, including discussions on
coaching, officiating, rule changes and strategies to make the
game more fun for players.
"We let the volunteers set the agenda at each summit for what
they want to discuss," said Wallace. "This is the first time
we've held these summits, but we've found early on the subjects
brought up are pretty much universal...and include coaching and
officiating."
At Sunday's session, the hot topic of officiating caused
serious debate.
After group sessions on the topic, Andrew MacDonald, president
of Nickel Centre Minor Hockey Association, told participants
far too many coaches, players and parents believe they have the
right to verbally abuse and harass young officials simply
because they get paid.
"They attend an eight-hour clinic, write a test and then we
throw them (referees and linesmen) out there and expect them to
do a great job.
"Everyone in the arena seems so quick to point out their errors
and get mad at them, but they're not quite so fast to show them
what they're doing right," he said.
There is not enough money in the minor hockey system put into
mentoring young officials or spending time with them off-ice to
show them how to make better decisions in the heat of a game,
said MacDonald.
MacDonald's group recommended more money be put into funding so
young officials can attend clinics and supervisors can spend
more time mentoring them.
Most coaches in attendance agreed with MacDonald's assessment,
however, many suggested the attitude of young officials is the
root of many problems.
"I've been coaching for seven years and I've never seen
anything like the last two years when it comes to the
officials...it all boils down to their attitude," said one
volunteer coach. "It's come to the point you can't question any
call or even talk to the officials."
Another coach with 27 years behind the bench didn't agree.
He said many coaches believe it's acceptable to "yell and
scream", even when they're coaching very young players, and
young officials don't deserve to be verbally abused at any
time.
Most officials have no problem talking to a coach about a call
when he or she is calm, cool and collected, he said."I've
learned over the years these officials are more than willing to
work with you as long as you're not upset," he said.
Wallace said he was pleased with the results of the Sudbury
summit and he has no doubts further events will be held in
coming years.
