The play was in our corner. There was no place to stand on the bench to
see the ice other than to straddle players and precariously step around
them. As usual, I had a pen in one hand and a lineup card in the other.
The
fracas involved my short-tempered centre who was being penalized again
as the referee was just feet away and couldn’t miss it. Even as his arm
was going up, I was getting angry at the kid’s actions. Swiftly, there
was the usual pushing and whatnot, as midget AAA players might do. I was
scribbling something when my pen slipped from my hand. Since I was
huddled next to a seated player, the pen tapped off his helmet and
bounced in a lovely arc onto the ice, right in front of one linesman who
headed straight to the referee.
While my player went to the box,
the referee signalled to our bench that someone was to leave. I looked
up and down wondering who’d gestured or said something. But the referee
pointed at me. Huh, I shrugged. The linesman skated to me and told me
I’d been ejected. Why, I asked. He couldn’t say.
At the appeal
hearing, the referee testified the linesman informed him I’d thrown my
pen at him. When my turn came, I joked it would have been a feeble throw
as the pen went about two feet. I described what happened as the
referee sat across the table and listened. After hearing my story, he
reversed his decision, admitting he’d made a mistake. My ejection was
overturned; I won the appeal. That referee and I remain the best of
friends 25 years later.
What did I learn from this? Even the most
innocent action can be misinterpreted depending on where you are and at
what moment. Had the linesman not skated directly in front of me at
that very instant, he wouldn’t have seen the pen. If the bench had room
for me to stand without straddling bodies, the pen slip would have sent
it to the ground.
In mentoring coaches, I’m fairly stringent in
one thing: there’s hardly a reason to discuss anything with an official
in minor hockey other than for clarification. This is because most
coaches just don’t know how to control their emotions; others can’t pare
down their approach to something resembling a polite conversational
style minus gesticulations and posturing. Best then to do or say
nothing.
One could argue this doesn’t do much to enhance
referee-coach communication. Perhaps not. But until coaches are able to
communicate without a show, it’s surely the safer approach.
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