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Ref Memories

 Another referee memory I have took place at a senior hockey game in Kenton. That night was when 3 penalty shots were awarded on the same play. How was this possible? Three penalty shots on the same play, you’re kidding, right? No it actually happened, and now for the rest of the story.

    Dale Henderson was the head referee in that game. Kerry Smith and myself were the two linesmen.

     A Kenton forward had a break-away and was fouled from behind. When he was tripped, Dale signalled there was a penalty shot being awarded. The signal for a penalty shot is by the referee putting his arms straight up over his head and crossing them.

     Now when a penalty shot is awarded, you talk to the shooter and the goaltender to inform them of the rules while a penalty shot is taking place. First the shooter. The puck must be kept in a forward motion toward the goal. It’s not like the NHL where players zigzag all over the place before a shot takes place. The shooter gets one shot, no rebounds should the puck hit the player and enter the net. Kerry Smith, one of the linesmen has the puck that he will set down at centre ice after the referee has a chat with the goalie and explains to him that he must remain in the goal crease until after the shooter crosses the blue line. The goalie was upset about Dale calling a penalty shot and told Dale he knew exactly what his responsibilities were as a goalie, get away from me!

    Dale blows his whistle, Kerry sets the puck down on the centre red dot. I am standing on one side of the net, Dale on the other side. It’s his call, I am there as another set of eyes on the play. The Kenton player picks up the puck and starts to head in for the shot. The goaltender comes out of his crease to position himself to block the shot. The goalie makes the save, penalty shot is completed, correct? No, this is not the case. Dale blows his whistle and signals that the shot is to be re-taken, because the goalie came out of his goal crease before the shooter had crossed over the blue line. The goalie is now a bit more upset with Dale. We are re-doing the shot. Dale again tells the goalie what he has to do, stay in your crease until the shooter crosses the blue line. Guess what? The goalie comes out of his crease too early, the shooter does not score again so you know what happens now? That is correct, we are doing it again! This will be the third attempt at getting this play completed. The third shot is taken, the goalie stays in his crease, but this time the shooter scored. The goalie is now really steamed at Dale and has more than an earful for Dale, who has headed to the timekeeper's bench to have the goal recorded.   

     As officials, we are also a team and do stick up for each other. The goalie still has a rant going so I decided I should intervene and get his attention off Dale and on to me instead. I said to the goalie, you know Dale is correct in how he handled this penalty shot. The goalie gets more verbal abuse going, so I said to him. I noticed in warm up you were stopping all the shots and then even on the first and second penalty shots you stopped them too. The goalie goes silent. I guess maybe I should have left it alone, but I said to the goalie, too bad that all those shots you seem to stop. But when it really counts, everybody is scoring goals on you. I said, you are the best warm-up goalie I have ever seen, but not so much during the actual game. Well, he comes unglued on me, but he left Dale alone. Mission accomplished. I let the goalie rant for a while at me then said to him, I am the head referee at your next game. If I were you I would just shut the hell up or make sure your back-up goalie is dressed because I will not be putting up with you and your mouth. I think my fuse is shorter than Dales. The goalie seemed to all of a sudden lose his tongue as it was very quiet when he left the ice. Truth be told, I was not doing his next game, but he did not know that, but I did. I saw him later on in the season, I could not even get a hello out of him!