My Hockey joy was tempered today

Submitted by aaugusti on

So I was walking down the hall at work today still beaming over the victory Saturday night when I see a colleague who also graduated from Michigan. I ask his thoughts on the game and we chatted for a second. I then brought up the terrible reffing of one Matthew Shegos, and how it seemed like he was trying to give the game to Northern. Said co-worker responded that he refs college hockey and is a very good friend of Shegos. I was dumbfounded for a second, but recovered and said that I felt he blew quite a few calls before walking away.

Needless to say, it turned into a moment where I was puzzled, but felt I recovered well after calling his friend an idiot.

scottcha

March 22nd, 2010 at 11:03 PM ^

Whatever, dude, his friend deserved some blasting. Your opinion on Shegos didn't depend on whether or not he knew the guy, so there shouldn't have been any reason to back down if you could concoct a coherent argument. (WARNING: DO NOT consult the Freep on how to concoct a coherent argument).

winterblue75

March 22nd, 2010 at 10:33 PM ^

And this topic never came up previous to today?? You being a UM hockey fan he being a UM fan (obviously hockey included or you wouldn't have been talking CCHA officiating with him)...I'm just saying.

Bando Calrissian

March 23rd, 2010 at 1:00 AM ^

From this, it looks like it was undergrad.

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,6443/LegendInStripes.html

For Shegos, hockey has been a life-long love. “I was — like most officials — a player in my youth. I wanted to play collegiately. I was small and fast and shifty, but wasn’t what they were interested in. I made an effort to walk on at the University of Michigan, and it didn’t get very far.”

It was while he was a student at Michigan that Shegos became an official. “I attended a tryout at the North American Junior League … and found out a student at Michigan put a call in to the head coach at that time and got me involved.

LSCrepair

March 22nd, 2010 at 10:56 PM ^

You need to ask him politely if he will be reffing any of the NCAA tournament in the Ft. Wayne area. If he says yes... buy him 78497 beers or something to make him not hate UofM now. Thanks.

aaugusti

March 23rd, 2010 at 12:08 AM ^

The guy I work with does not ref CCHA games, I would guess that he refs high school in the area. Like I said, he is a friend of Shegos, and has brought in a lot of hockey memoralbilia for another colleague's son who plays hockey. If I was at a bar with him I may have gone on more about the sucky reffing of Shegos, but we were in a professional setting, and I decided that such behavior was not appropriate.

aaugusti

March 23rd, 2010 at 9:46 AM ^

It was late when I posted that, so chalk that up to me being an idiot for a moment. A check of the CCHA media guide did not yield my colleagues name, and I have not had the chance to ask him what level he refs. It is probably the lower divisions like the Wayne States or Albion colleges that he refs.

Mr. Robot

March 23rd, 2010 at 12:01 AM ^

Normally I'd feel a little silly for something like that too, except this is Matt Shegos we're talking about.

He deserves every bit of criticism he gets, as do a lot of college refs. As much as I'd like to say Shegos is the first one to let the opponent off easy on a boarding call, he's not the first (He just did so AFTER ejecting our own player for a lesser version of the same thing). I will never forget the absurdity of the Camp Randall game. I forgot who got boarded first, but that one was a no-brainier 5 and ejection and it got 2 (Not boarding, mind you, but still a dangerous cheap shot on a guy who was not against the boards, had already gotten rid of the puck, and was extremely vulnerable). Then a little later one of their thugs came ripping in and elbowed Scooter's head right into the board and it only got 2. Add in silly ones at the end that cost us two goals and the game and you've got yourself a mentally handicapped pair of zebras.

I've heard people make excuses that its only a side thing for them, but that does NOT excuse blowing stuff as significant as boarding. It also doesn't excuse line judges blowing an average of 5 offside one way or the other each game when probably 90% of the students close to the blue line catch it and the judge doesn't. Just because you're working for cheap or free does not excuse you from doing a poor job.

JustGoBlue

March 23rd, 2010 at 12:10 AM ^

I notice you only said it "seemed" like he was giving the game to Northern and "recovered" but I think that's the line you DO NOT cross talking about officials, of any sport. You can complain about them as much as you want, a lot of the time it's warranted, but the second you start saying/implying they were giving the game to one team or the other, that's when it goes from a criticism of their abilities, which is perfectly acceptable, to a much deeper criticism of their character which is unnecessary and unacceptable, without a lot more proof than just them making bad calls. I complain about calls at least as much as everyone else, but I hope nobody ever, ever, EVER takes that as me thinking they're throwing the game (unless Gary Bettman is involved, his character I will attack).

Also, Mr. Robot, whom I'm not replying to because I want my first point to stand alone, I agree wholeheartedly with everything except your first sentence and believe I have said so before on this very blog in response to ref complaints. I'm glad we're kindred spirits. This pleases me.

Bando Calrissian

March 23rd, 2010 at 12:41 AM ^

To be fair, I don't think there's a single college hockey official out there who is consistent when it comes to the 5-minute boarding penalty. It's a slightly ambiguous rule that so often is either misapplied or completely ignored. It isn't a Shegos thing as much as an NCAA thing.

Tamburlaine

March 23rd, 2010 at 9:04 AM ^

The NCAA has to come down hard on boarding and mandate that any type of boarding is a major penalty. You've got to take the subjectivity of referees out of it. And go as far as to say it's a major whether it is in the first period or the last two minutes of the game.

The NCAA and CCHA?all leagues should also take to reviewing these types of penalties after the games and hand down further penalties as warranted.

The key issue is safety for young players who have careers and lives ahead of them.

Elise

March 23rd, 2010 at 10:50 AM ^

The idea that refs make bad calls on purpose is hilarious, and as fun as it is to make fun, there's no real reason to get offended.

-Collegiate referees are very good at their jobs. That goes for all of them. Yes, there has been some room made for more error with the recent change to four referees, but it's mostly negligible.

-Bad calls happen, and they happen more often than you might realize. Any person with a good knowledge of the game can see that at any given time. It's actually comical once you realize how much even NHL refs miss.

-Yes, refs do feel bad when they make a bad call. Unfortunately most of the time they are in a position where they can't just wave the call they just made and say "Oops, sorry, that actually wasn't icing."

-Referees who consistently do a bad job feel the heat. Once you get to the collegiate level, the competition for jobs is very intense. As with anything else if you're not pulling your weight, there's always somebody waiting in the wings to take your place.

All that being said... as somebody who's reffed before, it's all that much more fun to heckle the zebras. "You call that a puck drop?!?!"

Elise

March 23rd, 2010 at 11:21 AM ^

Sadly I haven't been to many M hockey games in recent years and I can't say I watched him intently when I was able to go. I can't really comment specific CCHA refs. With a few exceptions, I never saw many calls that were reprehensible beyond forgiveness.

As far as I've seen, the collegiate reffing world is a bit like a company. In a private setting you might let a comment slip here or there, but overall you won't talk trash about other referees. If anything, you defend them to the best of your ability. As you might imagine, they already walk a pretty stressful line, and there's no reason to make your profession look any worse than it is already perceived to be.

Tamburlaine

March 23rd, 2010 at 3:08 PM ^

I wonder if the whole wide world thinks Shegos is out to get them like Michigan fans do.

Really, if the guy was so shitty, he wouldn't have a job.

Well, I know, I know--even the NCAA doesn't know as much about things like this as Michigan fans.