Preparing and planning for success ...

The last two days have been packed full of preparation meetings and briefings.  Therefore, this update is probably less about the emotion and the experience of being at the Olympics and more about the work and what has to happen so the experience can begin.

Most people involved in sports administration or events of any kind will know that there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure a successful event.  When the world is watching it is important that the event runs smoothly and so for the last couple of days my role as part of the supervisor team has been to make sure we are prepared for success: as a team of supervisors; as a team of officials; and as a sport at the Olympics.  Our preparation and briefing meetings are split across two groups: the officials; and the team coaches for the tournament.

Briefings Meetings with officials

One of the key challenges of being a referee supervisor for the IIHF is that you need to arrive at a location and quickly familiarise yourself with the logistical and practical information.  This is so you can convey it to the game officials and help them feel comfortable and relaxed in their new environment. 

Having been an official myself at IIHF tournaments I have a pretty good sense for the type of questions the officials are likely to want to know the answer to: how far is the rink from the hotel; what time will the buses leave for the games; if you are not officiating a game can you go to watch the game; what time and where do you get breakfast; lunch and dinner; can you leave your kit bag at the rink in a drying room; is there an option for laundry; will there be Wi-Fi at the rink; when will the assignments for games be given; what time and what is the process for getting a sports massage; if medical assistance is needed how to access it; when will the game feedback be given; and the list can go on.  The challenge is to find out everything possible from the organiser and relay this information to the officials.  At an Olympics, we are lucky because we have the IIHF staff working directly with the organisers.  Therefore, when we arrived as supervisors the answers to a lot of these questions was already known. 

The logistical information is however just one part of the briefing that we need to provide for the officials.  We are also tasked with ensuring they are all on the same page in regard to the IIHF Officiating Standard and specific rule focus points.  Many of the officials have a lot of experience working for the IIHF at tournaments but it is good to ensure all officials have the information fresh in their mind and have the opportunity to clarify any interpretations or questions.  In addition to the officiating standard and the logistical information, we then also need to provide the officials with information regarding special championship rules or procedures.  The Olympics is a special event and one where the IIHF have to work in line with the IOC protocols and regulations.  This can result in a number of special procedures which may be new or different for the officials working the games.  Our role is to make sure the officials receive all of the information they need to officiate the games well and in line with the required procedures. 

Some of the procedures at the Olympics are what makes it special but also what makes officiating at the Olympics more challenging. The officials need to learn and implement potentially new procedures at the same time as staying focused on the job they are doing.  Ultimately the challenge for them is to keep the same standard which got them selected for the Olympics in the first place but manage a lot of different variables alongside this.  They need to cope with the pressure of being on the world stage.  They have to tune out the distractions but also understand the details of the procedures to ensure they happen and do not detract from the actual playing of the sport.  A good colleague and friend of mine shared with me that at the NHL officiating conference each year they have a theme for their officials. A few years back the theme was “Starve the distraction: Feed the focus”.  This seems a very appropriate theme for officials at an Olympics! 

Snow Cleaning Breaks

For example, at the Olympics there is a snow cleaning service at regular intervals during the game.  This means that in every period at the first stoppage of play after 14 mins, 10 mins and 6 mins on the clock the red light will go on and there will be a 70 second break where several skate staff will burst onto the ice and shovel up the excess snow in front of the goals and along the boards.  The referees need to be aware of this happening.  They need to be aware of the red light, send the teams to their benches and then also know the timing procedures to bring the teams back to the game and be ready to drop the puck the second the snow clearing service is complete, so no time is wasted.  It sounds simple, but when you add this into a game when the officials have so much else to do, it is easy for it to be missed or for an official to focus too much on getting this right at the expense of missing something else.  I remember for me I always loved this procedure because back home I would work some recreation games at midnight and we would be lucky to get one ice cut at the start – let alone have snow clearing breaks – it was a pretty novel concept for me!

Frozen Pucks

Another example is the desire to have frozen pucks in play as much as possible.  The colder the puck - the harder it is - and the harder it is - the faster it flies on the ice.  Therefore, at stoppages of play the linesman have the opportunity to switch the puck that has been in play and may have warmed up with a frozen puck from the bench.  They need to do this when a puck has been in play for around 2 minutes and at a time and opportunity where the stoppage isn’t going to be too delayed by them going to the bench to switch the puck out.  Again, a potential distraction for them which could steal their focus if they let it – particularly when they already have a role to do in terms of controlling players during stoppages of play.  For me again I loved this procedure as an official.  Back home I can remember doing games where the pucks were so old and had been used so much they look like they had been chewed up by a dog on the edges – they were definitely not frozen … we were lucky if they were flat and with sharp edges!

Obviously, all of these procedures help with making the game faster and more exciting.  It is just our job as referee supervisors to make sure the officials are briefed and feel comfortable with them, so they can seamlessly incorporate them into the game without losing the focus of their main job and role.

Other procedures involve the increasing use of technology in our sport.

Advances in the use of technology

Advances in technology has been a discussion point for many sports over the last decade as they grapple with the ideas of goal-line technology and video reviews.  I am proud to say that ice hockey has always been at the forefront of using technology in a positive way for the game.  Many of you will remember from Sochi that I explained we were given special whistles with headset microphones that were set to detect the frequency of the whistle.  This meant the clock would be stopped automatically when a whistle was blown.  This saved vital seconds when added up over the course of a game.  I was pleased to hear that the whistles and technology would be used again here.  Each official received a special Pyeongchang Olympic whistle to use for the games for this purpose. 

The video goal judge review system has been in place for a good number of years now and there remain seven reasons set-out in the rule book for a video goal review.  The referees need to be aware of these seven reasons.  As a referee supervisor team there are always two of us working for each game: one is the referee supervisor responsible for watching the officials and giving them feedback on their game afterwards; the other one is the video goal judge - responsible for any video goal reviews and communicating with the referee on the ice via a phone system at the time-keepers bench during a video review. 

Additionally, at this Olympics comes the introduction of two new technology inspired tools to help the game: wireless announcements by the officials; and coaches challenge.  Both of these advances in the use of technology in our sport are for the better of the game.  Both are, again, procedures which the officials need to be briefed on and understand so they can be implemented correctly. 

The wireless announcement system now provides the referees with a microphone where they can directly announce to the crowd all penalties assessed, disallowed goals and outcomes of video reviews and coaches’ challenges.  Usually the referee reports the decisions to the time-keepers bench and these are announced to the crowd by the announcer.  The referees now need to stand in front of the timekeepers’ bench and announce directly to the crowd (and to the millions of TV viewers around the world).  Again, this is a procedure the referees need to be briefed on. 

Coaches challenge is a tool which provides the head coaches of each team with the opportunity to challenge a goal decision on the ice either because of a missed offside or because of a goaltender interference situation.  The coach can only challenge if certain criteria are met and the referees need to be aware of this.  The procedure also involves the referee or the linesman who made the call going to the time-keepers bench and having a direct communication with the referee supervisor about the video review of the challenge at the same time as being given a tablet to view the same video that the referee supervisor is looking at.  The decision is reached together in discussion between the referee and the referee supervisor as they watch the video together and the final decision is made by the referee on the ice.  Again, a great tool for the game to ensure that the correct decision is made.

Briefing meetings with Team coaches

At the same time as briefing the officials, we also have a role to perform in terms of briefing the Coaches of the participating teams.  The referee supervisors at every IIHF tournament need to run a “Head Coach Rule Information Meeting” before the games start.  This pretty much is what you would imagine from its name – it is a briefing meeting for head coaches of each of the teams which provides information on the rules!!!

The presentation and the information conveyed to the coach’s mirrors what we emphasize and provide to the officials.  It includes a review of the IIHF officiating standard, rules focus for the IIHF, player conduct, information on procedures and on special championship procedures.  Our goal is to provide the same information to the officials and coaches so that they can work together to ensure the smooth running of the games and so everyone understands what is happening and why.  This year as you can imagine the focus of attention and the questions from the coaches related to the new technology tool and how they could use this.

For the referee supervisor team, the first two days have been about processing information and presenting it in a clear and concise manner for the officials and for the coaches.

For the officials, the first two days have been about absorbing information and trying to learn new procedures but stay focused on old ones.  Being at the Olympics as an official is not easy – but then if it was everyone would be here.  All of the officials here have earned the right to be here because of their ability to do the job and to manage the potential distractions.

With everyone now briefed for success, we are almost ready to get started!