Development League for all....but Officials?

If the past couple of months have taught me anything about the WHL that I did not yet know, it's that the officiating is below sub-par.  More times than not this year, fans are blaming refs for losses, yes, that's common in every league around the world, but to be frank, more times than not, the blame is properly placed on the WHL officials.  If you do the math, you will notice that Penalty Minutes (PIM) are down this year from last, however, that does not paint a proper picture as to the quality of officiating.  Even though PIM are down from last year, officiating is causing issues more this year than any other in recent memory.

This blog entry will come across slightly "whiney" so bare with me.  There are plenty of examples of the poor officiating across the league, but I am only aware of the recent issues the Kelowna Rockets have had with the officials, so if you know of certain games from your team, please leave a comment below with the game and the issue below so hopefully awareness is spread to those who need to be aware.  There are many examples of poor officiating with the Kelowna Rockets this year and others before it, and I will give you one of the most recent examples that I can remember.  

Last friday night, the Kelowna Rockets hosted the Prince George Cougars.  The game started out rather normally, and after the first period the Rockets had a 2 to 1 advatage on Power Play chances, rather normal wouldn't you say?  Come the end of the game, the PP Chances were 7 for PG, including THREE 5 on 3's with two of those being consecutive, and 2 for Kelowna.  To have a difference like that, against a home team, you would think the Rockets were playing dirty hockey, however, they were not.  The officials made knee-jerk reaction calls, calls on plays that did not effect the flow of the play, and missed more than I can count against both teams.  Two of the penalties that were called that night were Delay of Game, normally calls that you can't get angry at the officials for, that is, until the Referee signals the puck hit the glass, just to have his linesman come over, and initiate a 2 minute "conference" with all 4 officials to reverse the referee's decision, and this is not a rare occurance anymore.

It seems like the officials in the WHL are no longer sure of themselves, and are always relying on the back/front referee, or his linesmen, for help on most calls.  Is this a byproduct of the two referee system, and referee's with the feeling that they don't need to pay as close attention as they used to?  Or is this a byproduct of poor development, guidance and coaching?

The Western Hockey League touts itself highly not only as a development league for players and coaches alike, but also officials, who also have NHL aspirations.  The only problem with that, is the league is not putting nearly enough time and effort into the development of the officials of the WHL.  If you did the research, I am fairly certain that the amount of officials that have graduated to NHL/AHL from the WHL in the past 5 years, would be no more than 10, and that to me, indicates a problem with the systems the WHL has in place for the officials.

If the WHL wants to improve their officials, they need to invest more into the program and invest in their officials.  Right now, it feels to not only me, but many fans across the league, like these referees are told to throw on a striped jersey, a pair of skates, and tossed on the ice with a pat on the ass and a hearty "Good Luck".

It's high time the WHL Figure out their Officiating program.