Dec. 7, 2023

The Ride To The Rink - Emotional Control When Dealing With Officials

Show Notes
Transcript

Ever wondered why a bad call seems to ruin your game? Or how your interaction with officials can influence the outcome of a hockey match? This week's Ride To The Rink explores how players can effectively manage their interactions with officials for a successful game. We spotlight the necessity of emotional control and the impact of gestures like picking up the puck after an icing, and how these can impact the officials' perception of you. As a player, the game isn't merely about scoring goals; it's also about the respect and sportsmanship you exhibit on the rink.

Mike kicks off with a deep discussion about understanding the role of officials and how to navigate both good and bad officiating. He then delves into the importance of emotional control and how it reflects on the officials' view of you. He highlights the long-term benefits of helpful gestures, like picking up pucks or leaving them in easy-to-reach places for officials. Furthermore, Mike hammers home the importance of playing by the rules and being respectful, especially towards adult officials. This episode is not just about playing a good game of hockey, it's about understanding the human dynamics in sports and learning to play the long game.

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So today I just want to talk about, in our ride to the rink, our ability as players to manage officials.

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No matter whether you like officials or not, whether you think officials are good or not, whether you think they're high level, low level, new, old, they can't skate.

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They're great skaters.

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It doesn't really matter for us as players and coaches, but for you as the player.

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We need to almost learn how to manage good and bad officiating, just understanding that the official's job is to their interpretation of following the rules, keeping the game safe, keeping you safe, keeping them safe and keeping the opposition safe.

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Right, their job is to maintain the rules of the game, maintain the flow of the game, keep the game going in an orderly manner and then penalizing or not making calls in certain situations so that the game can be played as best.

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We all want it to be played, but we still have rules.

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That's the great part about being in a team of sport.

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We're in a rule category here.

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So I thought I'd just talk about a couple of things that you can do as a player to almost manage officials a little bit right.

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So number one is be controlled.

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Your emotions and how you act completely reflect on how the official's going to act to you.

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If you're slamming your stick or slamming the door, or every single time a player comes near you and hooks you, or it's a missed call and you're looking at the official and looking for that official to make a call to you, you're just doing yourself a disservice because this official most of the time these are adults, right.

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Even younger players that are out there refereeing the game are human beings, so they're going to react in a human way, whether they're trained at it or not.

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They're in the same boat as us as youth hockey players.

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They're new, they're learning, they're in the beginning of their career as well.

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So understand that your reactions and aggression towards them is not going to help.

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So be controlled.

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If you control your emotions, it's going to help you better deal with those officials.

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I often tell my players all the time be helpful.

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If there's an icing and you're the defenseman that gets the puck, pick the puck up and give it to the official.

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Don't slap it down the ice and shoot it away.

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Slap it out of the net after a goal.

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If you just pick up pucks or leave pucks right where they are for the official to pick up, they remember this.

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They'll see you, they'll see the color of your jersey, they'll remember your name, they'll remember your number.

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That goes a long way psychologically than setting yourself up for a great game.

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So again, you're playing the long game.

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You're playing three periods of hockey.

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We don't want to be the player in the first shift that shoots the puck down the ice after an icing and makes the official go chase it.

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Don't set the standard there and understand they're there to support you, so support them a little bit.

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Also, play by the rules.

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If you're supposed to be wearing neck guards and mouth guards, have all that stuff in your possession and on your body so that the referees don't come right at the beginning of the game out of the gate saying you 26, get off the ice.

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No neck guard, no neck guard.

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With no mouth guard, you got to get off the ice and delay the game.

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Anything you could do to be within the rules of the game are going to help those officials right away, because they're going to see that you're being helpful to them.

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You're helping them get through the game.

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They're most of the time.

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These are basically volunteers, right, they're helping, they're getting paid, but they're there in the same as you.

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7am on a Saturday morning it's not the greatest place to be in.

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A cold drink with cold coffee.

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Also, make it easy for them to officiate you.

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And I think the last bit of advice I could give a player is be respectful, don't back to especially.

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It's one thing.

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Peer on peer, it's one thing.

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If you have a 14 year old official, you know reffing a 14 year old game, I can understand how you could look at that person as a peer.

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If there's an adult as officiating your game, let that adult understand it.

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There, the adult, you cannot have an argument.

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No adult is going to have an argument with a 15, a 13 or 12 year olds about a call, a play, a situation in the zone.

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That's not.

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That's going to end up.

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Good for you, right?

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It's easy for that official to put you in the box.

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It's easy for that official to give you misconduct.

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It's easy for that official, human nature, wise, to look at a close call and not go your way.

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Be respectful, thank you.

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Here's your puck Get out of the way.

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Don't complain about calls every single time they make a call, good or bad, can't be looking for every single play.

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They're going to miss off sides.

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They're going to miss icings, they're going to miss hooks.

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But the more you're respectful, the more you're helpful, the more you're controlled, the more you can be in those game situations that are going to benefit the official.

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It's going to benefit you and your teammates.