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Ref Memories

    A couple of incidents that occurred while I was officiating a game were severe injuries. I saw a player break his leg, another player get a concussion from a hit as well as a separated shoulder injury. Officiating mostly senior hockey, I always had injuries in the back of my mind as these guys have to go to work the next day!  
    One night in Elkhorn, Troy Frederick had fallen down going forward and ended up in the direct path of a shot taken by Hal Haight from Cartwright. Hal could really fire the puck. Hal takes a slapshot which was blocked by Frederick. He ducked his head down and the shot hit him on the back of his neck. Frederick was yelling in extreme pain, the play just stopped and the Elkhorn arena went silent. After a few moments Frederick was helped off the ice and taken to the hospital. Turns out he was okay, thank goodness. It was just a freak play where something went bad.
    Chris Hunt from Kenton, James Ramsey from Cardale were a couple of other players who were hurt. Some players quit playing for risk of injury because they knew they had to go to work the next day. I think there were players who were on unemployment insurance for the winter that did not care if someone got hurt or not. Because they did not have to work, I felt they were playing chippy hockey.
    I am sure there were also a lot of guys who played hurt, went to work hurt. As an official, I had my share of injuries to work through because I was going to work as well.
    I did some evaluating of officials over the years and one question I always asked, are players in the games you officiate getting hurt? If they are, you better take stock of what penalties you are calling. Nobody is making a living playing the game, let’s all get home safely. Nothing wrong with a good hard hit, that is part of the game but keep it within the rules.