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Why do we have Goal Judges?

W

WildShawn

Registered User
Just a random question.

Why do we have/need goal judges in college hockey? Is it simply to put the light on to alert the crowd that there's a goal? A goal isn't officially a goal until a referee signals a goal, and if he doesn't see it go in the net (either live or on replay), it doesn't count, right?
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

It doesn't count unless the referee says it is a goal, regardless of what the goal judge does. Officially they are there in a capacity to "assist" the referees in determining whether a puck crosses the goal line entirely or not. I have seen on occasion a referee conferring with a goal judge before making a determination, but that isn't a common occurrence.
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

MoFan said:
It's a scam to reward influential boosters.
Click to expand...

Lock this thread and swallow the key. As long as said booster has decent eyesight and can hear the ping of solid vulcanized rubber on iron, he should get it right roughly 85% of the time and nobody will even notice him.

But in all seriousness ...
2010 - 2012 Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Rules and Interpretations
HR 54- Section 5: The goal judge should signal the referee, by means of a red
light, when the puck enters the goal cage. The referee may consult the goal
judge to gather information. The referee shall make the final decision as to
whether or not the goal will be allowed.
The goal judge shall judge at the same goal cage throughout the game.
Goal judges should be isolated from the spectators.

How often does that happen?
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

All WCHA arenas now have overhead cameras to assist the referee in determining whether the puck crossed the line if there is any question. The goal judge is now completely superfluous. The referee goes straight to the TV monitor, not the goal judge.
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

ScoobyDoo said:
Someone has to turn the little light on?
Click to expand...
du78 can turn the goal light on from New York.

I think we have goal judges so that two old guys can wear blue blazers with WCHA patches and get front row seats with great sightlines.
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

MavsFan said:
All WCHA arenas now have overhead cameras to assist the referee in determining whether the puck crossed the line if there is any question. The goal judge is now completely superfluous. The referee goes straight to the TV monitor, not the goal judge.
Click to expand...

Overhead cameras are sometimes not enough, and sometimes without a camera inside the net, there's no way to be 100% sure.

The incident that leads me to ask this question happened a little over a week ago when a goal was scored that the goal judge saw (as did everyone sitting behind the net, and the goal scoring team). but the referee did not, and signaled no-goal, and didn't confer with the goal judge. The issue was, the goaltender reached WAY behind him into the net to scoop the puck out, but it covered any overhead view of the puck (which, from what I hear, was a good foot over the line). I don't blame the referee on the ice because he didn't see it go in, or he would have called it on the ice. The goal was not counted after the review (non-conclusive) correctly since it was called no-goal on the ice. This leads me to think that they are pretty much pointless in their little fish tanks behind the net other than to let everyone know in the building that there MIGHT be a goal...

I also know that at most arenas, the judges are affiliated with the home team, so they shouldn't have any final say, but what about having non-biased league 'officials' behind the net to get the right call?
 
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Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

goal judges are there because they know somebody connected with a leagues, so that they can get paid for sitting on their respective butt holes.
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

WildShawn said:
I also know that at most arenas, the judges are affiliated with the home team, so they shouldn't have any final say, but what about having non-biased league 'officials' behind the net to get the right call?
Click to expand...
Another question: what is the appointment criteria for NCAA regionals?
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

WildShawn said:
Just a random question.

Why do we have/need goal judges in college hockey? Is it simply to put the light on to alert the crowd that there's a goal? A goal isn't officially a goal until a referee signals a goal, and if he doesn't see it go in the net (either live or on replay), it doesn't count, right?
Click to expand...

In order to have six blind mice, thereby requiring bands to play Three Blind Mice twice as fast. :D
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

Because sometimes a mommy goal judge and a daddy goal judge love each other very much.
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

The following is from <A HREF = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_(ice_hockey)#Goal_judge">Wikipedia</A>: “In 2006, the NHL began experimenting with goal judges in higher seats (especially upper decks) with wireless signals. The idea was to allow teams to sell the lower seats, but also to give officials a better view of the action as to be able to reject goals if violations (illegally kicked in, player in the crease, offside) took place.”

In 2007 a hockey blogger described the affect; see
<A HREF = "http://oddmanrush.blogspot.com/2007/08/goal-judges.html">Old Man Rush Blog</A>. If you don’t want to read all that, the last line appears to sum up his view: “Like cabooses at the ends of trains, goal judge boxes at the ends of rinks will soon be but a memory of a distant time.”
 
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Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

The goal judge is there to turn on the red light so that the fans will know when it's time to cheer. :)

More seriously, I can recall an incident some years back when a goal judge turned on the red light, but the referee signaled "no goal." After making his signal, the referee went behind the net and consulted with the goal judge, then skated back out in front and once again, emphatically signaled "no goal."

There was an NCAA rule prohibiting the media from talking to the on-ice officials after the game, but the rule did not prohibit talking to any off-ice official. After the final buzzer, a newspaper reporter went to the goal judge and asked what he had said to the referee. Had he told him he wasn't sure about his decision to light the red lamp?

The goal judge said no, that wasn't the case at all. He had told the referee that he had seen the play clearly, the puck had gone completely across the line, and the goal should count.

The goal judge said he had no idea why the referee had bothered to consult him when the ref so obviously didn't care to listen to what he had to say.
 
Re: Why do we have Goal Judges?

owslachief said:
...... The referee may consult the goal
judge to gather information. ....

How often does that happen?
Click to expand...

I saw it happen once, at this game: http://www.uscho.com/box/mens-hockey/2009/02/13/cornell-vs-dartmouth/

It was during OT. Thompson didn't have the video system for goal review at the time.

After the Joe Gaudet redirected the shot by Doug Jones towards the net, the puck took a funny bounce and came back onto the field of play. Ref initially ruled it no goal, but the other ref and linesmen skated over and they had a long animated discussion. One of them pointed towards the goal judges box, where the goal judge was gesticulating madly. Ref skated over to the penalty box, got a walkie-talkie from an arena employee and I saw a walkie-talkie given to the goal judge over by Cornell net. The ref then got a penalty box and had a brief conversation on the walkie-talkie. He then skated out, conferred briefly with the other on-ice officials, pointed towards the center of the ice and the game was over.

Personally, I thought I saw a little flash of white between the puck and the crossbar from my vantage point in Section 18, but it was a hard shot and I wasn't sure. The certainly officials got a better view.
 
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