Board of Governors Approves Use of Four-Person Officiating Crews in Some SPHL Games This Season
Published on October 1, 2008 under SPHL (SPHL) News Release
Commissioner Jim Combs of the Southern Professional Hockey League announced today that the SPHL's Board of Governors has approved the use of four-person officiating crews for some of its regular season games during the 2008-2009 hockey season. The SPHL which assigns officials from USA Hockey's Officiating Development Program (ODP) for all of its games, will use four-person crews for 15 games during the regular season. This system is currently used for all games in the National Hockey League and is also used for a portion of the American Hockey League's schedule.
Combs stated that "the use of four-person crews for some of our regular season games is part of the SPHL's commitment to providing developmental opportunities for our players and officials. Since this system is now used more broadly in professional hockey, our Board of Governors felt it was logical to ensure that both our players and officials have the opportunity to gain experience with the four-person officiating system as part of their development."
Importantly, the 15 game schedule will also allow the fans in each SPHL city to observe the impact of the extra pair of eyes on the ice as all teams will have some home games featuring four-person crews. All teams in the SPHL will have an equal number of games officiated using four-person crews. The system features two referees with overall penalty calling responsibilities in addition to the usual compliment of two linesmen who are responsible primarily for offside calls, icing , some bench penalty assessments and preventing and breaking up on ice altercations.
Scott Brand, Director of the ODP reacted positively to the SPHL's Board of Director's decision. "This will provide our officials the opportunity to work the same system the National Hockey League does and prepare them for higher level leagues like the American Hockey League"
The 15 games are scheduled to occur over the entire season and the game results will be evaluated by the Board of Governors, with input from SPHL coaches, players and ODP officials to determine use of four official crews for subsequent seasons. The SPHL "The Leader in Single A Hockey" is committed to providing our fans with ongoing innovation in all aspects of the game while providing the best product in all of Single A hockey.
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- Board of Governors Approves Use of Four-Person Officiating Crews in Some SPHL Games This Season - SPHL
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