Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Officiating: The Human Element

April 28, 2012, 7:51 AM ET [16 Comments]
Dee Karl
New York Islanders Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Okay, so after my last entry on officiating, I received a very intelligent, well written letter asking me to perhaps "reframe" my thinking on the subject.

Truth is; the NHL Officials are the best in the world but their job is one that is almost impossible and one that to this date has really not been enhanced by technology.

Perhaps now is the time to change that.

Are you really going to tell me that putting a chip in a puck wouldn't help on so many levels? There would be no dispute over if and when a puck crossed over the goal line and the war room would be saved from having to look at 15 different camera angles.

There's a question? Tap into the chip in the puck and let it tell you where it was. Simple.

Off sides calls? How hard would it be to put invisible tracking beams on the lines. Again, the chip in the puck comes in handy as well. But once a play crosses the line, the data would be collected. Need to know what team the player is on? Simple, microchips in their skates recognizing the player himself. Countless pieces of data could be collected and there would be little dispute.

You would only have to go to the data information should there be a question and that is where a new NHL review policy would have to be in place.

It is sad that Coaches do not have a review process of a call. Goals can be disputed, but other calls are never taken to the war room to look at the tape. Of course the TV color guys will have the tape up instaneously INFORMING the fanbase of how blatantly bad the call was, but the guys in those stripped shirts don't get that luxury.

Fans get the luxury of seeing everything frame by frame as an announcer disects it. THIS action of television that we have grown to love is what gives us fans the basis for our ire.

WE can see what went wrong after the fact. We tend to want an immediate fix. The NHL has not given the men who have to make the calls any tools to do so.

I'm thinking it's about time they did.

The human element of the game is the players themselves. The skill, the battle and the passion. It's exciting and beautiful. But it can turn ugly in a heartbeat for everyone involved on just one simple and understandable mistake.

Certainly technology will not help with holding calls, fighting majors and the now prevalent because there is a lack of respect "intent to injure" calls. But the simple deduction of where was the puck at a precise moment is easily attainable.

That being said we already know it shouldn't "glow" or streak or beep. It should just be invisible and discreet -- like a copy on the side of the LIE with a radar gun.
Join the Discussion: » 16 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Dee Karl
» Boychuk for Seven
» Good Ain't Good Enough NYR 2 - NYI 1
» The Return of Isles' Capt. America
» The JT Show in TO in OT
» Kennedy's Debut