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Official (ice hockey)

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American Hockey League referee Dean Morton

In ice hockey, an official is a person who has some responsibility in enforcing the rules or maintaining the order of the game. There are two categories of officials, on-ice officials, who are the referees and linesmen that enforce the rules during game play, and off-ice officials, who have an administrative role rather than an enforcement role.

On-ice officials

A linesman about to drop the puck during a faceoff.

As the name implies, on-ice officials do their job on the hockey rink. They are traditionally clad in a black hockey helmet, black trousers, a black-and-white striped shirt,and black polished skates with pure white laces. Thus, on-ice officials are often called zebras. They wear standard hockey skates and carry a fingerwhistle, which they use to stop play. They communicate with players, coaches, off-ice officials, and spectators both verbally and via hand signals. For many years (and currently in most minor and amateur leagues), officials had their last names on the back of their jerseys for identification, normally in a single row across the shoulders. (Some officials with long names would have their name in two rows.) Starting in 1996, however, NHL officials wear numbers on their shirts, a procedure adopted by other leagues.

Referees

A referee is responsible for the general supervision of the game. He can be identified by his red or orange armbands. His judgment of goals is final. He is the only official with the authority to assess penalties for violations of the rules.

Linesmen

Linesmen are primarily responsible for watching for violations involving the red line and the blue line. Such infractions include icing and offsides infractions. Linesmen also conduct faceoffs. They are also expected to break-up scuffles, and/or fistfights and other altercations that occur during the game. Some leagues allow linesmen to call penalties (such as too many men), while others only allow them to report the infraction to the referee.

Assistant referees

In some leagues, such as the NCAA, the linesmen are given the title of assistant referee. When given this title, they are given more responsibility to stop play and call penalties that the referee may not see.

On-ice officiating systems

  • The three-official system uses one referee and two linesmen. This is the most common officiating system. The NHL previously used this system until changing to the four-official system.
  • The four-official system adds a second referee for a total of two referees and two linesmen. This system is used in the NHL and other high-levels.
  • In the two-official system, each official acts as both referee and linesman—each has the responsibility to call both penalties and blue and red line violations. In this system, neither official wears red or orange armbands. This is used at lower levels of youth hockey and in most adult recreational leagues.
  • In the 2-1 system, there are two referees and one linesman. There are a variety of ways to divide the responsibilities between the referees and linesmen. Typically, the back referee is responsible to make the initial call at the blue line when the puck first enters the zone, and after that the linesman takes over.
  • The 1-1 system (sometimes called Texas two-man) uses one referee and one linesman. Often, this is an informal system used when one of the officials does not show up for a game scheduled to use the three-official system, or an official is hurt during a game. The referee in this system must also make the occasional line call.
  • The one-man system used in non-competitive leagues. The referee makes all calls, though with less accuracy than in other systems.

Off-ice officials

Off-ice officials, with the exception of the video goal judge in professional leagues, do not have any direct impact on the outcome of the game. They serve primarily administrative and advisory roles.

Goal judge

The goal judge determines whether a player has scored a goal by watching to see if the puck has crossed the goal line completely. One goal judge is positioned outside the rink directly behind each goal net. For arenas so equipped, the goal judge turns on a red light behind the goal to alert everyone that a goal has just been scored. The red light (and the green light which is mounted next to it) are hooked up to the game clock: when the clock is stopped or the green light is turned on when the game clock reads :00, the red light cannot be turned on. The goal judge acts only in an advisory role; the referee has the sole authority to award goals and can override the opinion of the goal judge.

In 2006, the NHL began experimenting with goal judges in higher seats (especially upper decks) with wireless signals. The idea was to allow teams to sell the lower seats, but also to give officials a better view of the action as to be able to reject goals if violations (illegally kicked in, player in the crease, offside) took place.

Video goal judge

The video goal judge reviews replays of disputed goals. As the referee does not have access to television monitors, the video goal judge's decision in disputed goals is taken as final. In the NHL, goals may only be reviewed in the following situations: puck crossing the goal line completely and before time expired, puck in the net prior to goal frame being dislodged, puck being directed into the net by hand or foot, puck deflected into the net off an official, and puck deflected into the goal by the high stick by an attacking player.

Official scorer

The official scorer keeps the official record of the game. He is responsible for obtaining a list of eligible players from both teams prior to the start of the game. He awards points for goals and assists, and his decision in this regard is final. The official scorer typically sits in an elevated position away from the edge of the rink.

Penalty timekeeper

The penalty timekeeper records the penalties imposed by the referee. He is responsible for ensuring that the correct penalty times are posted on the score clock.

Game timekeeper

The game timekeeper is responsible for stopping and starting the game clock.

Statistician

The statistician records all required data concerning individual and team performances.

Officials value in ice hockey culture

Like other "playing" sports, hockey game-play is based on referee decisions, therefore inevitable misunderstandings could seriously influence the whole process. And even if the mistake was committed purposely, there is no way that game results could be declared void because of it (the most probable outcome would be suspension or monetary penalty against the violating referee). Therefore, referees' influence in modern hockey culture is obvious.

Russia

Unlike hockey fans in other parts of the world, Russians have their own special name for on-ice officials: matras (Template:Lang-ru), which is Russian for mattress. In the Soviet era, mattresses were generally made with black-and-white stripes running down their length, reminiscent of the striped shirt of an official. Russian fans are so biased against the referees that even the most belligerent fans of opposing teams will support their counterparts in the face of questionable calls, regardless of whose team benefits.

Soviet hockey history with Moscow team domination started several myths, one of which is referees being corrupt (there are still rumours of Soviet leaders, like Stalin or Brezhnev, using phone calls to determine which team would win the game). While this fact is quite questionable, several standard practices serve only to help spread rumours. For example, league regulations state that referee's salary is paid by game hosting team and also that the largest punishment for a referee so far was a 3-month suspension with a questionable fine. Therefore, corruption is the main theme of Russian fans' performance. Most interesting cases include fans taking up 10 rouble note (a note with the lowest monetary value, typically equal to approx. 40 U.S. cents) from his wallet and addressing the referee with "A penalty, please" shout. When penalty is finally called (which takes no more than 5 minutes of normal gameplay), the note is thrown on ice, this time with "Thank you!" comment.

There are several popular chants to be heard on stands.

  • Mat-ras – tri-dva-ras! (lit. "Mattress - three-two-one!") - "tri-dva-ras" is similar phonetically to pidorás, a derogatory term for passive homosexuals. Since swearing in public places is a civil offence in Russia, a workaround was found to avoid being captured by police.
  • Sud'-ya – ka-zyol! (lit. "Referee(judge) is a goat!") - kazyol is a popular Russian pejorative.
  • Sud'-ya – El-ton John! (lit. "Referee(judge) is Elton John!") - also casts illusions of sexual preferences.
  • Po-lo-sa-tiy – pro-vo-ca-tor, hey-hey! (lit. "Striped is an instigator, hey-hey!") - implies that referee is leading a game into an inevitable fight.

These pearls of Russian fan culture are characteristic not just for hooligans. Even serious businessmen in VIP lounges can be seen chanting some of these in extreme moments. A good example is a Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs. Dynamo Moscow game, which was broadcast live by the federal sports channel RTR Sport. During an overtime period, A Dynamo player managed to get a breakaway and shot the puck right into goalkeeper's face. The latter fell, and a second shot of the former resulted in a goal. IIHF rules state that game stould be stopped immediately if a goalkeeper gets hit with the puck in his face so Metallurg officials appealed to the referee. After a video review, the appeal was denied resulting in huge "Matras - tri-dva-ras!" chant by each fan. Commentators even stopped their play-by-play, with a comment - "It seems, they're quite right". Cameras then showed VIP lounge with people chanting in similar manner.

Unfortunately, this examples show that ice hockey officials in Russia are treated quite poorly by fans. New insults are being constantly invented such as referees being called penguins. The league doesn't do anything to prevent this, in fact new league regulations (like a proposal to remove the referee's name from their jersey in favor of advertisements) have been criticised as bait for fan creativity.

List of current NHL on-ice officials

Referees


Linesmen


Recently deceased NHL officials

Notable retired NHL officials

See also

Director of Officiating (NHL)

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