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I have seen alot of bashing of refs...Can someone comment on any Goods ones..? Individuals or Districts.. It would be nice to hear some positives, they have a tough job.

Great post!!! There really are very good refs out there. Some tourneys and district play have an excellent ref or possibly 2. In those rare occasions where you have 2 good refs, the games are wonderful to watch and the kids enjoy playing...........Unfortunately I don't have names.....Have seen some very good refs in Roseau, Bloomington, New Ulm, Lakeville, Woodbury, Warroad, St Cloud, Fargo and other cities. To me, refs, like anyone else, needs to EARN your respect.........it isn't given automatically. It doesn't take long, watching or coaching games, to pick out the really good zebras............a real pleasure to these these ladies and gentlemen work games.........

Disrict 16, while not perfect and in short supply sometimes, have good refs.

elliott70 wrote:Disrict 16, while not perfect and in short supply sometimes, have good refs.

What teams are in district 16?

district 8 has some good refs..but ive never really seen any others.

nahc wrote:To me, refs, like anyone else, needs to EARN your respect.........it isn't given automatically.

You might consider that their position should command your respect - and they should have a long ways to go before they deserve losing it.

nahc wrote:Great post!!! There really are very good refs out there. Some tourneys and district play have an excellent ref or possibly 2. In those rare occasions where you have 2 good refs, the games are wonderful to watch and the kids enjoy playing...........Unfortunately I don't have names.....Have seen some very good refs in Roseau, Bloomington, New Ulm, Lakeville, Woodbury, Warroad, St Cloud, Fargo and other cities. To me, refs, like anyone else, needs to EARN your respect.........it isn't given automatically. It doesn't take long, watching or coaching games, to pick out the really good zebras............a real pleasure to these these ladies and gentlemen work games.........

Really

starmvp wrote:

elliott70 wrote:Disrict 16, while not perfect and in short supply sometimes, have good refs.

What teams are in district 16?

Hallock, Roeau, Warroad, Lake of the Woods
Thief River Falls, Red Lake Falls
East Grand Forks, Crookston, Bagley, Bemidji, Blackduck

I am now on my 3rd child through hockey at all levels and I have to say District 3 refs and the ref association are the best and most consistent. They work very hard at training and promoting good quality refs. The also do a good job of field evaluations and feedback to refs coming up so they can get better. (As a point of reference- I have had a girl in youth and HS, a B level boy who also spent 3 years in Junior Gold A, and a top level A type who is now a Bantam A)

Bucky wrote:

nahc wrote:Great post!!! There really are very good refs out there. Some tourneys and district play have an excellent ref or possibly 2. In those rare occasions where you have 2 good refs, the games are wonderful to watch and the kids enjoy playing...........Unfortunately I don't have names.....Have seen some very good refs in Roseau, Bloomington, New Ulm, Lakeville, Woodbury, Warroad, St Cloud, Fargo and other cities. To me, refs, like anyone else, needs to EARN your respect.........it isn't given automatically. It doesn't take long, watching or coaching games, to pick out the really good zebras............a real pleasure to these these ladies and gentlemen work games.........

Really

I have taught my kids to respect adults...period. If they have a problem they can talk to ME about it. Unfortunately this is not the case, many teach there kids just the opposite...knowingly.

Not all adults deserve respect...but for a young person to act upon that NEVER leads to good things. Treating a coach or ref with respect leads to good things.

In life you will have a much better time if you treat everyone with respect. I regret the times that I have deviated from this. Why wouldn't you teach a kid this? What better place to learn than in sports when you face tough situations?

cooper26 wrote:

nahc wrote:To me, refs, like anyone else, needs to EARN your respect.........it isn't given automatically.

You might consider that their position should command your respect - and they should have a long ways to go before they deserve losing it.

You know, that sounds really good. I will change it to read that they can lose their respect level easily. One should respect the refs, but I can tell you from experience that many have lost my (and many others') respect about 2 minutes into a game.

Hockey is one of the toughest games to officiate. And it's even tougher to do it well. Those refs that are respected around the state are those that do it for the love of the game, work hard to do a good job and really care about all of the kids. MANY of the refs are doing it for the ego boost and for a few extra $$ (although there isn't that much $$, is there?). The reason we can't remember the good ones is because they aren't highly noticed during the games, they just do a good job and then go to the next game.

Refs are no different than hockey players. There are a few really good ones but for the most part the rest are decent, average, not so good or even terrible.

However I will say this, I can absolutly not stand the refs who think they have to be overbearing, threatening and dictator like to control a game. You know the ones I'm talking about. I know coaches can get out of hand in the heat of the moment but if a ref feels they need to "shout down" a coach and threaten to eject him from all things hockey because of something as simple as a penalty or off-sides dispute, well, then maybe they should find something else to spend there time on.

Nothing worse than to see a ref blow a call then wave his finger and shout at the coach to shut up. Most of the time coaches simply want an explanation of what the ref saw.

Communication, like in many other parts of life, is a good thing and needs to happen in hockey especially between coaches and refs. If the ref doesn't permit it regardless of the siutation, then he's failing in his duties.

JoltDelivered wrote:Refs are no different than hockey players. There are a few really good ones but for the most part the rest are decent, average, not so good or even terrible.

However I will say this, I can absolutly not stand the refs who think they have to be overbearing, threatening and dictator like to control a game. You know the ones I'm talking about. I know coaches can get out of hand in the heat of the moment but if a ref feels they need to "shout down" a coach and threaten to eject him from all things hockey because of something as simple as a penalty or off-sides dispute, well, then maybe they should find something else to spend there time on.

Nothing worse than to see a ref blow a call then wave his finger and shout at the coach to shut up. Most of the time coaches simply want an explanation of what the ref saw.

Communication, like in many other parts of life, is a good thing and needs to happen in hockey especially between coaches and refs. If the ref doesn't permit it regardless of the siutation, then he's failing in his duties.

I wish that some times a ref could be ejected from a game. The ref has this ultimate power thing working where everyone else has to do what he says. Again, the good ones don't use that, but the bad ones need to be taken down a notch as well. I have been involved in a tournament (years ago) that the director of the tournament stopped a game, told the refs that they were not doing their job, and waited until replacements came to start the games from that point. I was impressed!

I wish that some times a ref could be ejected from a game.

While in theory that sounds like a good plan, let's imagine the other side of the spectrum.

Who should have the ability to determine if the officials are doing their job apporpriately? The coaches, players, zamboni driver? That is scarier than most other situations I can think of....