Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I agree but the NHL is the premier hockey league of the world. Other professional leagues do invest a lot into educating and critiquing their officials. The NFL fires officials almost annually based on their performance. When's the last time the NHL fired officials? It just feels like CFL level officiating where you can alter the outcome of games and never be disciplined for it. The officials handling the playoffs are supposed to be the officials the league has determined as their best. That's pretty scary if you have watched all the series.
|
The NHL does educate its officials. But it draws from a pool of officials from lower leagues, and that pool isn't anything close to as large as the NFL. Hockey as a sport has a real problem attracting and keeping officials. The fact they have to be quite good athletes themselves immediately makes many of the kinds of educated spectators who ref other sports (like football) ineligible. Add to that the very high burnout rate among young refs in junior and minor hockey because of abuse from fans and coaches, and it's a real problem.