East Coast Hockey League trying a new approach to stopping abuse of officials by coaches
Hockey has been bringing out the best in a lot of players in terms of talent and endurance. It also brings out the worst in people when things aren't going all that well during a game.
Whether it be at your local rink during a minor league game, or even in the professional ranks, the people who often get the short end of the stick are the referees.
During 32 Thoughts on HNiC, they revealed that the ECHL is trying to do something different, in hopes of bridging the gap between coaches and referees. Prior to each game, coaches and referees are to meet up 1 hour before the game to help better develop the relationships between them. The hope is to help diminish the constant verbal abuse that the referees get whenever they make either a bad call or simply a call that doesn't go into one team's favor.
From 32 Thoughts on HNiC yesterday. New in the ECHL this season - mandatory meetings between the coaches from each team and the officials one hour before every game. The goal here is to help develop better relationships between the two �sides'.� Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) October 16, 2022
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out and if this type of behavior can be introduced at the NHL and AHL level of hockey.
| POLL | ||
Do you think this approach will work? | ||
| Yes it's a good idea | 49 | 24.6 % |
| No, it won't work | 65 | 32.7 % |
| Worth a try | 85 | 42.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
