Hockey East exploring 2 refs, 2 linesmen

Hockey East’s coaches have voted in favor of trying a two-referee, two-linesmen officiating system and going to four-on-four for the five-minute overtime.

They won’t be implemented next season but Maine coach Tim Whitehead said he intends to have both issues voted upon by the entire coaching community at next spring’s American Hockey Coaches Association meetings.

He plans to make formal proposals to the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee in order to have them put it on the agenda for discussion and voting next spring.

“Each league would vote and then the whole coaches association would discuss it further. The Rules Committee has the final say,” said Whitehead.

Hockey East and college hockey currently use an officiating system with one referee and two assistant referees, who double as linesmen.

The five-minute overtime is five-on-five [excluding goalies].

The NHL has the two referees-two linesmen system and the four-on-four five-minute overtime. The four-on-four overtime is just for the regular season.

“The two referee-two linesmen system would give us better ice coverage and it would also allow us to add some young referees to the old boy network,” said Whitehead. “Everyone talks about getting some new, young referees in the game but they need opportunities. You could pair a new referee with a veteran so he could learn from him. Each referee would be responsible for half the ice [instead of the whole sheet]. The same for the linesmen.”

Whitehead said the vote among the Hockey East coaches was 5-2 in favor with two abstentions.

“Nobody voted for the current system. The two coaches who voted against the 2-and-2 system were in favor of the one referee-one assistant referee-one linesman system used in college hockey a few years ago.

“We felt one referee can’t cover the entire ice sheet and the two assistant referees were being distracted by their multiple responsibilities so they were missing some icing and offsides calls,” said Whitehead.

The assistant referees are responsible for offsides, icings and penalties that the referee isn’t in position to see.

Whitehead said in discussions between coaches and athletic directors, the two concerns with the 2-and-2 system was the potential for inconsistency and the added expense.

He said the vote for the four-on-four in overtime was 4-3 with two abstentions.

“Four-on-four would be very exciting. There would be a greater opportunity for more odd-man rushes and scoring chances. In the NHL, the players love it, the coaches love it and the fans love it,” said Whitehead.

In the NHL, teams each receive a point if the game is tied after regulation and if a team scores in overtime, it receives an extra point.

Whitehead said it doesn’t matter to him if that was instituted or if it was a winner-take-all format with the team that loses in overtime getting no points.

He said both the 2-and-2 officiating system and the four-on-four overtime have been well received in the NHL.