Rivers Banner

Ref Memories

    I just happened to see Randy Kalynuk the other day and we were reminiscing about some games we were involved in as officials and "how hot it was in the kitchen". We were referring to North Central Hockey League games between Roblin and Russell. Those were tough, tough games. I was involved in several of those games when you only had one referee and was also involved in several games as a linesmen. 

    The rivalry between the two teams was huge and the rinks were full of spectators. I mean 600 to 800 people. It was loud and boisterous. There was lots of tension as the games were usually close, but man these teams hated each other. 

    One night I remember in particular in Russell, I started calling penalties early and often. I tried to let them play but the teams were having none of that. 

    The game I refer to I called 47 minor penalties and probably should have called 47 more, there were that many. There were also misconducts and several fights and game misconducts. Both teams were guilty of the roughing and stick infractions.

    I often wondered what if I had just let them play and whoever survives, so be it. I just could not do that, someone would have been seriously injured for sure.

    I was in Roblin with Randy Kalynuk and Bill Hayward. Randy was the head referee and he encountered the same type of game, he will confirm what I am sharing in this story. 

    After the game, you are exhausted, and you replay the game. We had about a 2-hour trip home from Roblin and I had an hour and half trip home from Russell. This gave a lot of time replaying the game and even when you got home it was hard to settle in to sleep. I always believed if a referee had to call more than 15 to 20 penalties in the game, that was on the two teams. Here I was calling 47 minors plus misconducts and game misconducts. 

    We were not the only officials to have this happen to us, as others shared their games when things were ugly as well. 

    As both Randy and I got older it was nice to take your linesmen with you so you could talk about the game. We would talk about calls that we made or missed and what we could do differently, be it positioning or whatever. 

    Randy Kalynuk was one of the best officials I ever worked with. He was honest, positive and always there for me as we dissected games together.

    As I write this story I feel like I am right back there on those nights. I am feeling a little tense already. Time to end this story for now!