Your thoughts on a frustrating situation.

[traumadiver]

I play in a Beginner Level adult hockey league. I play on a time consisting of guys with little to no hockey experience. We are all out to have fun and get a work out. Last night we had our second game, Lost 2-4 but looked a lot better than the first game and the whole time my team got ... Bad mouthed, aggressively. But my problem is that the talking was coming from the Refs... not the opposing team who was rather classy for winning the division play-offs last season. The Refs spent the whole game making smart @$$ comments not to mention doing a horrible job which I usually would not consider making such a comment, but in this case I make an exception. My goaltender got over zealous and came out between the circles to play a puck... over skated it and allowed a goal. He skated back to the crease slammed his stick a bit and apparently said a few expletives which I could not hear from the bench. Ref came up to me and told me to control my whiny goalie or he was going suspend him... What the Heck!!!

[68guns]

Sounds like the refs are a couple of dousche bags! Hey everyone has to start somewhere. Maybe the refs are God's gift to hockey.

[JoeyJ0506]

Guys are on a power trip plain and simple. You have these kind of guys officiating games in every sport no matter where you are at; it is the nature of the beast unfortunately. A ton of these, "refs," are players themselves and are only officiating games for an easy paycheck, and don't really care about the the quality of the job they are doing. Honestly, I've never found a good way to deal with those guys. You can surely report their behavior to the league but since you're in a lower league and probably unestablished at the place you are playing at it is going to be your word against theirs, and a lot of the time those guys have been there a long time and their word is going to have more pull than yours. I've been in the situation myself a handful of times; over time I've learned to either let their poor behavior slide off, or switch leagues to a new venue to attempt to get away from the problem. Your only other option is to talk to some of the other team captains and see if they are receiving similar behavior. This is a good way to go about approaching the league management. If everyone is noticing this behavior it will be almost impossible for them to dismiss your complaints as an isolated incident. If you have a lot of unhappy customers threatening to take their business, and money, elsewhere they do not really have a choice but to attempt to make changes. Hope this helps.

[transient]

That sounds really shitty...are you sure they're not just doing it in good spirits? I play in a beginner league, but there is a good mix of experienced, intermediate, and beginner players and a guy who works at our LHS who is pretty well known refs our games and is always talking smack with our team and we always dish it right back, all just for laughs. No harm done at the end of the day. If they're being serious with the threats and douchebaggery, I'd say just do what JoeyJ said. If they're just dicking around, maybe go along with it. It's hard to tell if you're not actually there though. Good luck regardless!

[TXhockey]

Our refs can be pretty chatty. But it's mostly stuff like "good play". I have never been on the "business end" of ref talk.

[traumadiver]

Im all about being a smart@$$ and I have a great sense of humor what these "Refs" were doing was either so far off base even I couldn't find the sarcasm or it was just Rude.

But there is good news.

I spoke to a few other captains and we are by far not the only ones with issues. I brought it up with the Director (who is a pretty cool guy) and He told me that the problems with at least one of the Ref's have been common and that this was a final straw and that he will not be back. He asked me to get emails from all my guys and forward them to the organization who supplies our Refs.

[scott]

That does sound like the refs are acting unprofessionally. The only grounds they have to make a comment like that about your goaltender is if his actions are considered dangerous, damaging to the facility, or critically detrimental to the game (like flipping a net over). Your best option is to take it up (calmly) with the league administration.

[Paddy19]

75% of the refs in washington and BC are crap IMO,lol

[Fleury14]

Want some advice? Next time the ref is outta position (and trust me he will be at one point or another)...A nice slapper mid section as if you're dumping it in or clearing it out will do the trick..And then if he opens his mouth again, smile and ask how his bruise is.

[BCdogs14]

didn't Theo actually DO that in England?????

[Fleury14]

didn't Theo actually DO that in England?????

Where else did you think i got it? hahaha

I did it a few times in my playing days (juniors)...but havent in mens league.

[nickyb1324]

Want some advice? Next time the ref is outta position (and trust me he will be at one point or another)...A nice slapper mid section as if you're dumping it in or clearing it out will do the trick..And then if he opens his mouth again, smile and ask how his bruise is.

Ive done that before. Our summer leagues the reffs used to wear summer uniforms which included shorts and if they wore shorts they were not allowed to wear shinpads. got the puck at the piont and took a low slap shot banked it off the boards right into his shin. best part about it was he tried to give me a penalty but the league director was watching the game and waived it off because he was out of position

[Fleury14]

hahahahah dude, the only way you can get a penalty is if you pull a bernie nicholls and actually stop in front of the guy..look at him..and fire away lol

[traumadiver]

Hey so we played again with the same Refs. Same BS, same bad mouthing, same inconsistent calls. I took a cross check to the throat no call I slapped the guy in the shins and told him to watch it. I got hit with a slashing penalty. I argued it with the ref, served my penalty and came out of the box. Within 20 second of begin out we gain control and as im skating up the middle I get run into he falls down. I get called for roughing... WTH!!!! Bad calls all night and then in the third, he is against the boards and stops a clearnalong the boards (during a pk) one of my guys bumps him getting the puck (mind you he did nothing to get out of the way of the puck he stopped on the blue line) He shoves my guy down!!! WTH!!! Ive sent another email to the league director. But Im seriously pissed at this guy!!!!

[eric42434224]

Wow. I have read this thread, not knowing for sure how bad this ref truly was. You know...only hearing one side of the story and not being able to see or hear it in context. But the ref should never shove another player, unless it is to move him or her in a fight or something. I think you need to make a formal complaint, in writing, and be more aggressive with it.
If the ref is that one sided, I would actually go so far as taking my team off the ice in protest. That will get the directors attention to fix it ASAP.
Sorry to hear of your problems. Our refs are all great guys, and very friendly. Do they make bad calls? Do they miss calls? Yup. But not on purpose. They try to do right. Im sure it isnt easy being a ref, but it sounds like this guy is getting beat up by his Trucker boyfriend, and is taking it out on your team.

[traumadiver]

All of our other Refs are great, yeah I don't always agree with a call but hey thats the game. The league director is furious and it seems we are far from the only team having issues. He is going to the organization where we get our Ref's and requesting this guy not be allowed back.

[silverclrk]

Hey so we played again with the same Refs. Same BS, same bad mouthing, same inconsistent calls. I took a cross check to the throat no call I slapped the guy in the shins and told him to watch it. I got hit with a slashing penalty. I argued it with the ref, served my penalty and came out of the box. Within 20 second of begin out we gain control and as im skating up the middle I get run into he falls down. I get called for roughing... WTH!!!! Bad calls all night and then in the third, he is against the boards and stops a clearnalong the boards (during a pk) one of my guys bumps him getting the puck (mind you he did nothing to get out of the way of the puck he stopped on the blue line) He shoves my guy down!!! WTH!!! Ive sent another email to the league director. But Im seriously pissed at this guy!!!!

It's called parking lot time dude. You are going to have to fight him. he obviously has some sort of beef with you just settle it like men and be done with it. It used to happen all the time at the rink I grew up playing at.

[traumadiver]

Only one problem... The rink I play at is part of the same building as the police station...

[silverclrk]

Yeah that would be a problem.

[sdcopp]

Englewood Jack! Englewood Jack!

If the ref is that bad, tell the league director he WILL lose your business for any future leagues if this is not addressed since YOU are paying for leagues and ultimately the ref's services. League directors can always find a way around if money is leaving their program