From the drop of the puck, the assistant coach was riding me trying to gain an edge and get a call from myself or my partner. This is very common especially if the parties have never meet since the bench will assume (ass out of you and me) that you are new because they have never seen you before. For all of the new officials reading this, don’t buy into “persuasive” chatter from the bench. Call the game as you see it, we do not have linesman on the benches. So back to the story….

As I was saying, we kept hearing our fictitious linesman making calls on the bench like “high hit, trip, leg check etc” and as his skater was on a dump and chase around the boards, he tripped over the stick he was trying to skate through and briefly got shaken up. Now the safety card is being played from the bench and let me point out that there was a similar situation that happened the other way before that with out a peep from that bench. At that time my partner and I gave them the warning for arguing calls.

Later in the game, an opposing player of our friends on the bench tried to make a hole between the net and a player and fell against the boards. Naturally he was shaken up a little and it was not a penalty situation but I couldn’t resist making a comment to my friend on the bench as I said, “why didn’t you argue that call?” Of course he starting yelling and accusing me of baiting him, I could of easily given him the gate  but I let him vent since I instigated him.

Nothing else was said until the hand shake and I got laid into as he made a point to tell me that he was a NCAA football ref and was yelling at me saying my act of baiting him will get my games pulled from me and asked for my assignors name (which I gladly gave him). I will not deny that my comment was unprofessional but this guy had it coming to him. First off; if you are supposedly an official of any sport, you do not abuse your power for an advantage. Second off; if you are playing the safety card, be sympathetic to all the kids on the ice, not just your team. Finally; if you are a professional referee, you do not talk down to an official at a lower level and don’t show up for a hockey game and wear sunglasses on the bench like you are some superstar.

Although this coach or door jockey acted like a fool, it does not excuse me from making the comment I did to him. We as officials are taught not to take things personal and to a degree I did since this guy was so off base on every call he thought he saw. My advice to coaches is that if you are looking for an explaination do it in a professional matter. Arguing or yelling at an official will get yourself a misconduct penalty which will hurt your team and the kids you are coaching.