5 Ways for Officials to Control the Game

“Fights desecrate hockey. They distort the essence of the sport as a noble competition in ingenuity, speed, skills, and shrewdness” —Anatoly Tarasov, world-famous coach and father of Russian Hockey



Research on hockey violence has shown that coaches and parents strongly influence youngsters who play minor hockey by instilling aggressive attitudes. The closer a youth advances to the professional ranks, the more likely he will use tactics such as fighting and illegal stick-work. An obvious implication is that game officials, particularly referees, must take a more proactive role in curbing violence on the ice. In regard to this, some effective procedures for reducing the incidence of violence in minor hockey are reviewed below.

1. On-ice officials should meet with team captains and coaches prior to the start of each match. This provides a direct opportunity for clarifying rules and establishing expectations regarding how the game will be played and what kinds of behaviors will not be tolerated. Sports like baseball and football have effectively used this approach for decades, but sometimes it is a neglected part of hockey protocol.


2. Dialogue between officials and players should be encouraged. In the past, referees governed the sport with an iron fist and seldom put up with any verbal input. Indeed, referees typically issued misconduct penalties to players seeking clarification on a particular ruling. Keeping lines of communication open increases awareness and understanding of the rules, and it fosters greater internalization of moral/ethical values (sportsmanship) associated with fair play.


3. Referees should be consistent in their interpretation of the rules and in assessing penalties to each team. A frequent complaint concerns referees failure to judge recurring infractions in exactly the same way. Consequently, some players feel that the referee will not penalize an opponent for committing a foul against them—so they retaliate. Additionally, in attempting to maintain the flow of the game, referees might tend to overlook initial violations. When this happens, they fall into the trap of having to deal with subsequent acts of retaliation and the potential escalation of aggression.


4. The use of women referees should be supported. Sport psychology research indicates that players perceive women as less approving of hockey violence than men. Moreover, the trend toward using women referees contributes to breaking down gender-role stereotypes. Hockey aficionados are often surprised to find that women referees are often capable of skating as fast as men, and they understand the rules as well as men.


5. On-ice officials should maintain an appropriately high level of physical fitness. Those who are overweight and struggle to keep pace with the speedier young athletes tend to find themselves out of position and unable to make proper calls on plays at the opposite end of the rink. When this occurs, the risk of missing initial illegal behaviors (for example, “cheap shots”) increases, thereby opening the door to more violence.

A final point of emphasis is warranted: Referees are responsible for implementing fair play policies and mediating disputes with players and coaches in a sensible manner. However, first and foremost, the obligation for sportsmanlike behavior rests squarely on players and coaches.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Frank L. Smoll, Ph.D., for this article. Dr. Smoll is a sport psychologist at the University of Washington and co-director of the Youth Enrichment in Sports program. To see previews of his Mastery Approach to Coaching and Mastery Approach to Parenting in Sports DVDs, visit www.y-e-sports.com.

Playing Consistent Hockey

I remember watching the movie The Boys On The Bus over and over again when I was a kid—almost as if it was a Disney movie. The movie is about the Edmonton Oilers in the early and mid-1980s. I still remember one clip in which Mark Messier explains how he plays every game like it’s his last. It’s a great and—I argue—the only attitude to have when approaching each game.



For a little perspective on “the Moose,” he played 1,752 NHL games. If you do anything close to 2,000 times it can be repetitive and boring. Plus the travel, little nagging injuries, up and downs of a marathon season and non-hockey life can make for big distractions. For the most part, elite players have a passion for the game. If not, they would have been weeded out a long time ago. But the greatest players take that passion and have a laser-like focus that allows them to play great consistently. Good players, meanwhile, play great every three games or so—a big difference over a season and career. Here are two simplistic ways to approach the game: Average vs. Greatness.

Average Approach

If you go into a game thinking “it’s just another game” or “we beat this team 8–0 last time” or look past this game to a “bigger” game coming up, then you’re not giving your best. There was a game yesterday and there will be a game tomorrow. So you take the present game and basically go through the motions. The problem with this, as Seth Godin points out in a recent blog post on business, is that there is competition. As you take the skills you have worked so hard to achieve and average them out to just get through the game, the competition is giving it their all with a take-no-prisoners attitude. At least the good teams are. Who’s going to win?

Greatness Approach

If you think this might be the last time you enjoy the great privilege of strapping on skates as Messier did, then most likely it won’t be. Plus you get the added benefit of playing great hockey. Get hungry out there on the ice. It’s the difference today of two points in the standings. It’s a difference tomorrow of making the most out of the skills you have and achieving consistent greatness.

Good luck this weekend.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Brett Henning of Score100Goals.com for this story. Henning is the author of 7 Pre-Game Habits of Pro Hockey Players, and was a member of the Inaugural National Team Development Program and 2000 World Junior Team with USA Hockey. He played Junior Hockey in Canada and at the collegiate level for the University of Notre Dame. He was drafted by the New York Islanders before a back injury ended his on-ice career.

Hockey Training for Different Age Groups

In recent years sports scientists have spoken out emphatically about the harmful effects of premature and over-intense athletic training of young children. Many complain that hockey programs for youngsters are too intense, competitions too many, seasons too long, emphasis on winning too great. Young children are pushed by parents and coaches to choose and specialize in the sport way before they are mature enough to do so.

• Young children (up to 6) should engage in many different movement activities. Dancing, tumbling and jumping, are excellent activities. Since these youngsters have very short attention spans, instruction has to be unstructured and fun, teaching should be short and simple, and it is best accomplished using “show and tell.” There is no long-term advantage from structured practices at these ages.


• Up to the age of 8, children should enjoy a variety of fun and stimulating activities; they need to develop a broad base of movement skills. Intensive training and competition at too early an age inhibits the development of skills such as balance, agility, and coordination, and it prevents youngsters from learning other sports. It’s been shown that children who specialize too early do not develop the varied motor skills necessary for maximum athletic performance in later years. These children are the physical equivalents of specialists who have little competency outside of their specialty.


• Between the ages of 7 to 10, postural and balance skills mature and become more automatic. Children are able to master some of the basic movements needed for organized sports, but they still have short attention spans. They have difficulty making rapid decisions involved in complex sports. Skating skills can be introduced and practiced at these ages, but again, practices must be fun. Sports like hockey, soccer and basketball, as well as martial arts, swimming, t-ball, lacrosse, etc., are excellent choices.


• Between the ages of 10 to 12 (pre-pubescence) there is great improvement in coordination, motor skills, and decision-making capabilities. For children who choose to participate in hockey, skating skills now must be strongly emphasized. Skating techniques should be emphasized and built upon in the ensuing years. Players are now ready for some endurance and quickness training as well; they should engage in activities and perform drills that incorporate core strength, quickness, coordination, body awareness, balance, and rhythm. Fun and variety is still important so kids should be encouraged to participate in other sports.


• Between the ages of 13 to 16 (adolescence) athletes can incorporate complex skills and integrate large amounts of information. They can focus appropriately and their decision making capabilities improve dramatically. They are ready to specialize in their sport of choice and to practice with true dedication and intensity. It is also the time of the Adolescent Growth Spurt (AGS), the time of greatest and most obvious (catastrophic) change in a young person’s life.

Weight Train with PowerBlade

A weighted hockey stick such as the PowerBlade allows hockey players to incorporate weights into their stickhandling and shooting training and help strengthen the muscles involved in sport-specific movements. The PowerBlade is designed to add weight to a hockey player’s stick without hindering technique. The stick is evenly weighted so that a hockey player can just pick it up and use it. The purpose of the weight is to over-train the muscles. By using a stick that is much heavier than normal to practice, a player will be able to move a regular weighted stick a lot faster, and with more power. Read the full review here.

How to Manufacture Intensity: Faceoffs

The hockey season is a marathon of games, full of sprints that can be broken down into individual shifts. Every game is an important two points, but sometimes because of travel, injuries, mental fatigue and any number of other factors, your intensity level just isn’t there. That’s why pregame rituals and preparation is so important. (It’s so important that Score100goals has a 230-page book on it titled 7 Pre-Game Habits of Pro Hockey Players). But if you find yourself in the middle of the game and your energy level isn’t there, a good way to manufacture that necessary intensity is to bring it on during faceoffs.



In the first five to 10 minutes of a game, you can tell if a team is into it by their faceoff success rate—specifically those instances when the draw is a tie, the puck is loose and it takes a winger to win the draw.

A faceoff is the rare battle when opposing players start on an equal footing. Let’s say you play on average about 20 shifts. You might have 10 to 15 faceoffs or more in a game. Each faceoff and ensuing puck possession results in about 25 to 40 percent of your shift’s effectiveness—positively or negatively. (This is not sabermetrics but simple ballpark figures from someone who has the dealer add up his blackjack cards.)

Of course, some player’s responsibilities are higher on different faceoff situations, but if you say to yourself that, no matter what happens going forward, you’re going to win every faceoff battle, then that will automatically change your game. Your intensity level can’t help but raise and the puck will undoubtedly be on your teams’ stick more than the opposing team resulting in more offense.

So bear down on the draws, explode into your match-up player/faceoff assignment with 120 percent intensity and you will see a noticeable difference.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Brett Henning of Score100Goals.com for this story. Henning was a member of the Inaugural National Team Development Program and 2000 World Junior Team with USA Hockey. He played Junior Hockey in Canada and at the collegiate level for the University of Notre Dame. He was drafted by the New York Islanders before a back injury ended his on-ice career.

Develop Quick Hands with the X-Passer Puck Rebounder

The X-Passer is a puck rebounder—you pass the puck into it, and it will pass the puck back to you. This is a very easy product to create (usually just a big elastic band and something to hold it), but some of these work better than others. In this review we will take an in depth look at the X-Passer, which lets you practicing passing by yourself, on or off the ice. For more details, read the full review here.

Build Muscle with Complete Shot Stick Weights

Complete Shot is a weight designed to fit onto the shaft of a hockey stick. The purpose of this device is to provide added resistance to your hockey stick while you practice stickhandling and shooting. This added weight will build all the muscles involved with shooting and stickhandling. If you train with the Complete Shot weight on the stick for a while, then once you take it off you should be able to shoot harder and stickhandle faster.



For more details, read the full review here.

Playing Through Frustration

I recently read a book about the top mountaineer in the United States. He has climbed all 14 mountains taller than 8,000 meters (that’s 26,246 feet to you Americans) in the world. What absolutely amazed me is that these expeditions take one to three months—and at least three times he got within as little as 300 feet from a 29,000-foot summit and turned around because the conditions were too dangerous. If you don't reach the summit then you can’t check it off the list. Imagine the frustration—but calm headedness—it must take to turn around that close to the top. Better to retreat then reach the summit and die on the way down.



In hockey, many times I missed a wide-open net or the coach would bench me and my emotions would completely overtake me. I was ineffective on the next shift or game because I was so caught up in my past experiences. I would ask myself “Why can’t I score,” “Why do I suck?” I’d count how many games have gone by and figure out my season totals going forward. This is the worst possible thought pattern—a negative loop—that will only lead to more frustration.

If this mountaineer, Ed Viesturs, thought the same way—“I’m going to get up to the peak and then be turned away again”— there would be no way he could mentally or physically endure the months and months of training before the expedition and the back-breaking climb (carrying equipment, food, and lodging) up the tallest mountains in the world. His brain would quit when the going got tough. And worst of all, he wouldn’t be able to make the climb down, resulting in certain death.

Just like the weather at 28,000 feet, some things are out of your control. All you can do is go through the same hard work, preparation and positive thoughts as you did before. This will put you in the same position to make that summit—the score—the next time you are presented with an opportunity.

Good luck and score more goals!

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Brett Henning of Score100Goals.com for this story. Henning was a member of the Inaugural National Team Development Program and 2000 World Junior Team with USA Hockey. He played Junior Hockey in Canada and at the collegiate level for the University of Notre Dame. He was drafted by the New York Islanders before a back injury ended his on-ice career.

10 Tips for Team Dinners Out

Hockey tournaments will teach you something about restaurants. Some welcome 12–15 sweaty/rowdy players, their 20+ tired parents and the assortment of siblings and grandparents. They accommodate your group with pitchers of soda, pre-orders and separate checks. Other restaurants … not so much.



Once you’ve had one of those unwelcoming experiences—a 90-minute wait, lost orders and one giant tab that goes around the table (and around, and around) until you scrape up enough cash—you learn to plan. You stop showing up with 50 people unannounced on Friday or Saturday night at 7 p.m. to order off the menu. Instead, as soon as you get the tournament schedule, you start working the phones. Try these 10 tips to get started:

1. Identify restaurants with lots of space or separate rooms, and foods that most people like. Mexican, Italian and barbecue are good places to start (burgers involve too many special orders).


2. For an out-of-town tournament, ask the tournament director for suggestions, including signature foods and restaurants in the area.


3. Call a week ahead if possible—mid-morning or mid-afternoon, not during a lunch or dinner rush.


4. Talk to a manager and tell her the time, day and number of people.


5. See if you can get a separate room and waitperson.


6. Try to negotiate a buffet, limited menu or pre-orders. The fewer choices, the less chance of waiting for orders.


7. Ask if you can pay per-person (say $10 per person).


8. See if parents can buy drinks at the bar or get separate checks.


9. Let the team know the time, location and cost.


10. Get a final head count, and call the manager the day before to confirm.

Once you call a restaurant manager and say, “I’m bringing in a hockey team and its entourage,” a restaurant that wants your business is going to work with you. They don’t want your group clogging up the lobby or the kitchen anymore than you do.

A couple other tips from experienced team managers and social coordinators:

• Don't defect: If you commit to going to the team dinner, go—don't decide to go elsewhere and bring another 10 or so people with you. If a restaurant has set aside space and waitstaff, they expect the number they prepared for.


• Order by number: If a buffet or pre-orders don't work out and you have to order off the menu, ask if you can order with separate checks by jersey number. This lets players, siblings and parents sit at different tables. Everyone tells the server their player's jersey number before they order and the server knows how to separate the bills. It also cuts down the time waiting to figure who owes what and passing the bill around until you get enough money to pay.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Kelly Anton with the Grow the Game Initiative for this story.

What’s That Call? A Whistle After the Save

At a tournament this weekend, the opposing team’s parents were quite sure that the referee was blowing the whistle “too early” when their players were scrambling in front of our net. (One belted out, “How can we ever score if you keep stopping the play?!”) The parents on our team, of course, were sure the referee was trying to keep control of the game by keeping players from hacking at our goalie. Other times it seems like players are allowed to whack away in front of the net until the puck finally goes in. So what’s going on?



Now You See It...

As part of Rule 630: Puck Out of Sight on page 86 of the 2009–11 Official Rules of Ice Hockey, the referee should blow the whistle when he or she loses sight of the puck. When players are scrambling in front of the net—some working to keep the puck in, others working to keep it out—the referee blows the whistle because (ideally) the goalie has caught or covered the puck. A faceoff then occurs at the nearest circle.

...Now You Don't

As a spectator, and sometimes even as a player on the ice, it’s hard to tell where the puck is—let alone what the referee can see. This makes it difficult to determine why play stops when it does. We asked experienced player and coach Jeff Schneider for his take on the situation: “As far as when they blow the puck dead, anytime referees lose site of the puck, they blow the whistle. In practice, refs keep an eye on the goalie. If the goalie is flopping around, the puck is probably loose in the crowd somewhere. If the goalie stays still (for instance the catching glove is on the ice like he has it covered, even if he has no idea where the puck is), the whistle will probably come quicker.”

Note that play does not have to stop because the goalie catches or covers the puck. He or she can quickly pass the puck off to a teammate rather than ending up in a faceoff in which the team has only a 50% chance of winning the puck.

Check out this scramble and see for yourself whether this whistle blew before or after the goal.



Editor’s Note: Thank you to Kelly Anton, Managing Editor of Grow The Game, for this story.

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