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Officially Speaking: Monthly Mailbag

11/15/2018, 11:45am CST
By Mark Lichtenfeld

Dear OS: I just saw you at the CCM World Invite in Chicago, and noticed you weren’t wearing your name on the jersey. But you wrote a previous column about the importance of wearing a nameplate. What gives?

OS: Not sure how you knew it was me, but yes, I was minus the nametag. See, unlike Las Vegas refs, it seems Chicago guys are scared to wear names. Everyone should don nameplates. And that’s not just me speaking. It’s also Ron Hoggarth and Dan Marouelli. You know who they are, right?

 

To OS: I’m a veteran Level 3 and had some serious difficulties on the USA Hockey tests. I thought you’re here to protect guys like me, but the test was impossible. Thanks.

OS: You must be talking about the closed-book exam. Yes, I heard from numerous officials that the test was at times, incomprehensible, unintelligible and just plain unfair. Still, I have pleaded with all of you to study hard in order to guarantee a passing grade. And –most important – if you’re allowed to collaborate with fellow officials for the closed book, be very careful about whom you are collaborating with. Just sayin’.

 

Mr. Conceited: I’m a local parent, and I’m tired of hearing you yell “sticks in the white!” every time my son lines up for a draw on his Squirt AA team. Shut up!

OS: As I’ve written numerous times before, a center who places his or her stick in the white part of the red dot without request from the official displays knowledge of the game and mastery of the rules. Likewise, a kid who must be constantly reminded to line up correctly suffers from bad discipline, inadequate coaching, and in your son’s case, dearth of parenting.

 

Dear OS: Literally just saw you early Friday in Chicago at the world’s biggest hockey AA/AAA invite, and you guys looked like you were sleeping. I’m from out of town and this is what I’m paying for?

OS: What you’re paying for is a tournament where the first four games Friday all went to the slaughter-rule running clock, including a 10-0 disaster and an 11-1 snowball. This is a AA/AAA tournament?

 

Dear OS: OK, my kid plays in the Arizona travel league and I know we’re gonna get you in Las Vegas. Fine. But then I travel to Chicago and there you are again. Don’t you have a real job?

OS: No.

 

Dear OS: I’m a Level 3. How would you handle this? I’m at the World Invite in Chicago, it’s a 12-1 game, the losing coach won’t shut up the entire time, and then I overhear him saying, “I’m not going into the handshake line so I don’t call the ref an ***hole.” 

OS: Guess the message got through loud and clear.

 

Dear OS: I was coaching at the CAN AM tournament in October and my 10-and-under team was advised that slap shots are illegal. But sometimes the refs would whistle down slap shots and sometimes they would let it go. Can you explain or is this a Vegas thing?

OS: I just had this problem at the World Invite. 

Rule 621(d) in the USA Hockey Playing Rules states: “The use of the “slap shot” in the Youth and Girls’ 10 & under age classifications and below is prohibited. When a player who, in the process of making a forehand or backhand shot or pass, raises the blade of the stick above his waist as part of the backswing, play shall be stopped immediately and a faceoff is conducted at one of the end zone faceoff spots of the offending team.”

But if the kid raises his stick to his knees and then slaps the puck, it’s still a “slap shot,” yet it’s perfectly legal since the backswing is below the waist. I’ve seen some AAA Squirts do this and clearly, you have too. Got that?

 

Questions and comments can be sent to editor@letsplayhockey.com, via Twitter @OSpeaking or through the Let’s Play Hockey Facebook page.

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