Here is a letter that I sent to the head of officials for the WCHA.
Dear Mr Sheppard,
I was woundering if the WCHA is going to install the new NHL rules. After watching hockey this past season I believe that the WCHA is falling behind the NHL and is in a way becoming hard to watch by there being too much obstruction, hooking and holding. Now would be a perfect time to install the new rules all the way and allow the high end talented teams to display their speed and offensive fire power.
Sincerely,
The Goon
Here is the response that I got
Goon,
It is not up to the WCHA about the rules Its up to all the coaches and the coaches are ok with the way the rules are written right now,will they change the who knows can we as officials do a better job maybe we will try. Thanks for your input. Greg Shepherd
Interesting response
Like the Whistler said, Greg must have been drunk when he wrote his reply to me. So are the coaches happy with the officating? So happy they are speaking off record about the calls and state of the reffing. Well it's the offseason so now is a good time to find something to talk about.
Is this an actual situation and writing?!?! If so, my god! Obviously Shepherd has taken one too many hits to the head.
ReplyDeleteAs far as coaches being happy with the officiating...well OBVIOUSLY he's talking about Jutting. I never see/hear Jutts complaining about it:)
This is the actual letter the only think I changed is my name of course to protect the guilty. :)
ReplyDeleteI think its funny that there are coaches that will talk off the record about the officating but he said well I guess we are doing a good job lol.
Did you happen to write any letters asking about the ability of Shephard's crews to officiate (well) WCHA games? Is there in fact accountability? There probably isn't when you see D Shephard on the ice during the Frozen Four.
ReplyDeleteBack to the letter in question: The WCHA coaches may in fact be ok with the rules that are already in place, but how do they feel about how the rules were enforced this year.
I am thinking we will never know the answer to this question. I know this past season it seems as if there were many people that were unhappy with the way the officating went. One of the Herald writers wrote an article about it.
ReplyDelete