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Critiquing Officials: Four Keys for Hockey Coaches |
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Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22
No matter what the sport, people have opinions about officials and the work they do. Quite often it's negative, because that goes with the territory. No one expects fans to have insight into what makes for a good or bad official -- nor can they be convinced that the zebras do not harbor some sort of odd collective vendetta against their favorite team -- because the nature of fandom is that it comes through the tinted lens of personal rooting interest.
However, it behooves those within the game to know when and how it is apppropriate to make a complaint about an official.
1. Follow the 12-hour rule: Emotions run high during and immediately after hockey games. No one is immune. Players sometimes say and do things they regret later. Coaches do. Not even officials and their supervisors are always immune from letting emotion overtake rationality when there is a dispute in the heat of battle on the ice.
The late Frank Udvari understood this, and had a way of dealing with it. As a director of officiating, he could sometimes get very worked up at things he saw on the ice. When there was a serious issue to discuss, he usually preferred to wait 12 hours in order to give himself a chance to cool off and collect his thoughts.
When Udvari would talk to me about managing the emotion of the game, he'd often harken back to my own playing days. He'd tell me, "You've been there yourself. You know what it's like and what happens out on the ice."
In my career as an officiating director and previously as an NHL supervisor of AHL officials, I have adopted a 12-hour rule between the end of a game and a discussion on any issues that may have arisen during that game, especially between a coach (or team executive) and an official.
You would be amazed at how many times, after you take a little time to cool off and then revisit the issue, you can get your point across much more rationally and are more likely to have your voice heard than if you come in still in heat-of-the-battle mode. If there are supervisors or if I am in the building during a game, we still maintain the 12-hour cool-down expectation. There will be no confrontations or conversations that night after the game; no exceptions.
2.Be ready to back up your assertions. As an officiating director -- and I am not unique in this best-practice policy, I expect complainants to have more than raw emotion to back up their complaint about an officials.
I told coaches this: Prior to making a call to the Officiating Director, be aware that whatever comment you have, specifically on an issue that is negative, must be preceded by both a written statement and video support.
Texting and emails are not subject to the 12-hour rule. However, I expect people to act professionally in their written comments. Statements such as " This guy sucks" or "That was a brutal call" are opinion and have little merit regarding why a particular call or a rules error was or was not made.
On the flip side, even judgment calls supported by an official's proper positioning are subject to be scrutinized and discussed the next day. Our goal is to achieve positive results and the betterment of officiating to affect the game in which we are all involved.
If you have a complaint, be specific. What did the official do wrong? Was he out of position or not hustling? Did he escalate instead of diffuse on on-ice confrontation? Did he misapply a rule? The more specific you are, the more likely it is to be thoroughly investigated and addressed if there is cause to do so.
3. Think like a coach. Coaching players and coaching officials are very similar endeavors, albeit with two different areas of the game. As a coach, how are you likely to respond if someone simply attacks your players and gripes abouthow much this guy stinks and how terrible that other guy is? You're likely to jump to their defense. Coaches want to be able to coach their personnel to get beter. So do people who coach officials. Give us a chance to coach them.
Furthermore, every coach realizes that not every player on their roster can be a superstar. There are tiers of skill levels and tiers of work ethic and coachability as well. Some players need more work than others and some are more self-motivated. It's the same thing with officials. Within any league -- right up to and including the NHL -- not everyone is going to be the best of the best, and coaching your guys to elevate their performance and achieve greater consistency is why we need coaches in the first place.
4. Follow the Golden Rule. In other words treat people how you would want to be treated. Be like Bob Johnson and not Bob Knight. Respect the game, respect the players and respect the officials. That goes for those of us who coach officials as well as those who coach players.
I've told this story before: the words that haunted me the most as an official were nothing that came at a high volume or peppered with expletives. It happened one night when Bob Johnson told me, "Paul, you are a good offical, but I think you'll realize later this wasn't your best call." Immediately, I knew I'd screwed up; that's how much I respected Bob Johnson. On the flip side, if you are constantly screaming and complaining and treating the officials like dirt, the more likely you are to get tuned out. There's also a boy-that-cried-wolf effect to it, as well.
In thinking about what young, developing officials --and players -- go through, I am reminded of Edgar Guest's famous poem "Just a Boy", which I first saw printed on the menu of famous Boston eatery Durgin Park: "Got to understand the lad/ He's not eager to be bad."
That is the mantra of everyone who puts on stripes. Together we can make them better; not by berating, belittling and beating up on these young,noble arbiters. Rather, by understanding, cooperating and being patient as we coach them to be better. It would filter upwards.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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