New Counts/Mechanics

[Sonny]

Had my first college scrimmages yesterday.

The new counts keeps everyone on their toes. The key to remembering the new count mechanics - Single Side official has the first count after possession call on faceoff either way - whether it's a 20 second defensive clear count (buzzer) or a 10 second offensive count (hand count).

Takes a lot of communication among officials in a 3 man game once you get into a settled situation.

Remember that the faceoff official has the whistle restarting play after a faceoff violation. Trying breaking 15 years of officiating mechanics with this new mechanic. Had a situation where faceoff guy lined up wrong. I called him on it. I was becoming the new lead - so I immediately got "out of dodge" and raced toward my goal/GLE. I'm halfway down to my goal and the players just started playing without a whistle.

[Kyle Berggren]

As a player I was very critical of officials mistakes. I truly respected those that were good at it, but had no patience for the guys making the mistakes. Now that I've officiated a few games & seen the constant rule changes & points of emphasis, I feel really sorry for you guys. Especially for those that continue to do both HS & college (not the guys that do men's club), it's absolutely a steep learning curve to start the year... then changed the next year when you think you've got it. Good luck to all, I can't wait to see how these rules pan out this season.