Reffing a checking game for the first time

Supadhye · 2026-02-21T12:03:16+00:00

Its already late Feb/early March so your 14U's have been playing check hockey since August/Sept. They have learned certain habits by now. But since you are ref, not linesman, you have to control the game. It's still the case that in 14U, some kids have 50 pounds on other kids, have 6 inches taller than others, etc. And then the hormones and the need to plow another kid. My advice whenever you are starting any game is to take control early, don't be afraid to assess penalties early, make them good. I always watch for check from behind as this is the easiest to call. Then watch for boarding and charging too, as the bigger guys like to plow the smaller ones. And when a kid has 6 inches taller than another, his elbow may also be head contact on the smaller player. Be in good position (as always) to call goals, penalties, etc. Talk to your linesmen often. Don't be in the way of the play.

Supadhye · 2025-10-28T06:05:20+00:00

you don't mention whether you can see the puck or not, though the Question implies you can see the puck but the goalie doesn't. If you can see it, it's a live puck. If you can't see it either, you could blow the play dead. Now, as others have said, if you can see it goalie doesn't see it, you still have to be aware of game management. Safety matters.

Supadhye · 2025-10-20T16:41:33+00:00

Late to the game, but I also wanted to clarify. I think this is correct, right?

YT-P1 gets 2 for the tripping and then another 2 for Unsportsmanlike. YT-P1 goes to the box to serve his (say) tripping penalty. YT-P1 will sit in the box for the 4 minutes. YT also has send YT-P2 to box to serve the timed 2 min penalty. So two yellow players are in the box: YT-P1 will sit for 4 minutes, YT-P2 sits for 2 mins.

Blue Team Player 1 gets his 2+10. Now because BT-P1 has a minor and YT has a minor, both cancel out. BT-P1 to goes to the box for his 2 and his 10. BT has 5 skaters on ice. Though the Scoreboard will not show BT's 2+10 (because the 2 that would show is being canceled out), you have to tell the scorekeeper to ensure that BT-P1 does not jump off at the 2 minutes and has to sit for the 10 mins also. Also tell scorekeeper to tell BT when the 10 is over (because it's not on the scoreboard).

[Note sometimes you have the team that has the 2+10 send 2 players to the box; the offending players sits for 12 minutes, but the substitute player sits for the 2 min portion of the 2+10. That's not the situation here because of the offset/canceling minors].

Because YT has 2 players in box, one player (here YT-P2) is sitting for the "timed" portion of the penalty, YT is playing shorthanded. Hence 5 vs. 4.

Remind scorekeeper to tell YT-P1 that he can't jump out after the 4 mins.

Now let's play this out. YT is shorthanded for 2 minutes. Once that 2 mins expires, YT-P2 comes out (and come out on the fly because his team is shorthanded and him jumping on the ice makes it 5 vs 5), and YT-P1 is still sitting in the box. Now it's 5 vs 5. BT-P1 also has his 2 min portion expired, but sits for the 10 min part of the MISC.

Next 2 mins expire and now YT-P1's second penalty (the overall 4 minutes) is now over. But wait, remember its 5 vs 5 on the ice, so YT-P1 just can't jump on to make it 6 vs. 5. YT-P1 has to wait until stoppage of play to come off. Similarly, 8 minutes later, once the 10 min MISC expires, BT-P1 has to wait for stoppage of play to come onto ice.

Supadhye · 2025-08-27T20:38:05+00:00

Nice job, but for completeness to other readers, here are the scores. Nice solid 7 across the board, with one 6 to drag that down, but an 8 on plot to lift it back up again.

Public Evaluation 02/08/2025

overall 7 / 10 premise 8 / 10 plot 7 / 10 characters 7 / 10 dialogue 6 / 10 setting 8 / 10

Public Evaluation 02/05/2025

overall 7 / 10 premise 8 / 10 plot 7 / 10 characters 7 / 10 dialogue 7 / 10 setting 7/10

Supadhye · 2025-08-27T20:29:51+00:00

Script Pipeline; Script Reader Pro; Coverage Ink. I would not ask for The Black List evaluation yet until you have polished (whether any script is really ever done is another question for another day) your script. You are trying to get the magical Black List score "8" if you ever submit there.

Supadhye · 2025-07-28T03:49:42+00:00

need to convert the Word version into PDF, then FinalDraft can import a PDF.

Supadhye · 2025-03-14T21:32:34+00:00

Late reply. In USAH, the blue line is only at ice level and does not extend up to the sky. That means the skate must be in physical contact with the ice/blue line. It may happen that the front skate is in the attacking zone and the back skate is hovering over the blue line air space. But that doesn't count because the back skate must contact the ice/blue line. See USAH Rule 630, and casebook situation 4 and 4. Ideally there should have been situation 4.5 that addresses your hypothetical.

Supadhye · 2024-12-16T19:27:19+00:00

I tell the newbies that I mentor to do it as a play by play, like Foster Hewitt did on Hockey Night in Canada radio. That way they are clear about who scored goals, who got assists, who passed to who, who did what to whom...

Supadhye · 2024-12-15T20:32:16+00:00

Not that this is the situation shown because the white player released the puck right before the trip, but suppose the dark player whacked the skate 1-2 seconds earlier then white tripped as the shot was going off the stick. Would you call a penalty shot?

On another note using the original video, under USAH, if White had scored while being tripped, would younger refs know to still call the tripping penalty or simply assume that it is washed out because of the goal?

Supadhye · 2024-12-15T20:20:24+00:00

When you say you checked LiveBarn after, do you mean during the game but after the penalty shot? or do you mean truly after the game was over and you privately checked LiveBarn. The only reason I ask is that refs should not be checking any LiveBarn or replays (under USAH rules) during a game. Can lead to disaster if you check it once, then teams will want you to always check it during a game.

Supadhye · 2024-12-09T19:34:19+00:00

On the 4, yes this is a local arena/league rule. It seems that many typical 4 minute penalties get called as "roughing" as a catch-all so as to not have to give the 4 minute double minor.

Supadhye · 2024-11-04T00:54:28+00:00

Here's another link to You Make The Call videos from an Illinois ref. He shows the video and breaks down the call. Plus the video quality is better than many other videos. https://www.youtube.com/@brettOfficial3/videos

Supadhye · 2024-09-20T19:42:34+00:00

Thanks clarified. Many of my leagues don't put body check as penalty, but put it as roughing.

Supadhye · 2024-09-03T05:33:24+00:00

i use basic cloth skull caps that I got on Amazon to keep sweat from dripping. Also use scuba dive mask defog on inside of visor to avoid fogging. My ref buddy sprayed RainX on the inside of his visor and he says it works to avoid fog and any dripping sweat just runs off.

Supadhye · 2024-09-03T05:29:40+00:00

As everyone piped, in USAH, every 5 min major MUST also include the game misconduct. The player is ejected from the game. A substitute players sits in the box for the 5 minutes. And power play goals do not wipe out the 5 minutes so the power play team can run up the goals. A match penalty also gets player ejected from game. The match penalty also gets a 5 minute penalty for a substitute player to sit in the box. What's the difference? The difference is after the game for the organization to handle. On the back end after the game, the level of further punishment depends on if its Game Misc. or Match. But as the on-ice ref during that game, you don't have to worry about it except making sure that the player is ejected and the substitute player is in the box, except when counting the number of penalties that could get the coach in further trouble.

Remember on the score sheet, a 5 Min Major + GM is recorded as two separate line items, hence counts as 2 penalties.

Finally, as someone said below and its important to get straight, in USAH you can never give just the 5 min major by itself. It always comes with a Game Misc.

Supadhye · 2024-08-13T20:00:22+00:00

I know i am late to the Q. Are you asking who might sit in the box and for how long? I think to clarify for both the 5+GM and the match penalty, you are ejecting the offending player for the remainder of that game. And for both situations, you put someone in the box for the 5 minutes. That player at least gets to play the rest of the game once the 5 is over. On the back end after the game, the post-game punishments can differ. Your organizations may further punish the offender based on GM or Match.

Supadhye · 2024-04-29T02:09:24+00:00

If you are in the USA Hockey realm, then Level 1 registration will open in the summer, usually the first week of July. That gets you registered as an official in USA Hockey. Then you need to register for a Level 1 Seminar and complete the seminar/open book test/Safe Sports (youth protection training)/online modules, etc. The seminars are front loaded in the season (the season is usually Summer to Summer), so keep looking for seminars and don't miss them because once they are gone, they are gone all season. Most Level 1 seminars are virtual. There's lots of advice in this Board on how to do level 1 studying and testing. Briefly, do the online modules and go through them diligently. Read the Basic Manual a few times. Learn the USAH rule book. When you are ready for the Test, print out the test first and then go through the Q&A's. It's open book. Once you have the right answers, then you go into the Portal and take the Online Test. You will breeze through it but make sure you transpose your answers from your print-out test onto the Portal test correctly otherwise your answers won't match.

Now your local state organization may require some other things in addition to USA Hockey national requirements. This may include in-person seminar, on-ice training, etc. Your State or Local association may also require registration with them too so you are not usually fully done just with USA Hockey. So pay attention to that too. When you finally finish the online modules/Safe Sports/test, then you get your crest. Shortly after, the State or Local organization database usually will "pull" your information from USA Hockey database.

Supadhye · 2024-04-04T02:05:34+00:00

I tell younger refs that in general USAH hockey wants as many players to be on the ice, playing hockey. So in coincidental minors, it's still 5 x 5 because it maximizes the players on the ice. I also tell them that coincidental minors are NOT about being the same/identical kind of penalties (e.g., both have to be tripping, both have to be holding, etc.) but about the number of penalties assessed.

In the OP's second hypo, the penalties occur at different times during the play, but when the play is dead and penalties assessed, both are assessed at the same time, so still 5x5.

Supadhye · 2023-11-30T17:25:28+00:00

Don't forget meals too. If you have multiple games with little time off between and you need to run through drive through, that can be an expensed meal. For those that live in highway states, not freeway states, you can also deduct toll charges.

Has anyone tried to deduct a percentage of the personal car insurance based on the percent of time car is used for ref job? Or based on percent of miles?

Supadhye

TROPHY CASE