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A coach can ask all kinds of questions, but that doesn't mean that he will always get a response or an explanation. The game needs to be kept moving, so taking time to have a conversation every time a coach has a question or wants an explanation for a call is impossible to have. The majority of questions coaches have are not of the "why did you make that call" sort of thing, they are of the "the other team just did the same thing a period and a half ago and didn't get called, so why are you calling us for it now" type of question. That is a conversation where there's no good outcome for either the coach or the official. No one is going to get an answer that they like in that situation.

If we need more time for the game to be completed before the curfew clock expires, how about allowing players at 16U AA and 18U AA levels to touch up on off sides and also allow them to ice the puck on the PK. Less stoppages of play will allow more time for OT or a shootout. That way we kill two birds with one stone.

To see the dumbest rule in all of youth hockey ( and there are a lot of them ) in the fair play point system potentially going away would be a good thing. Then they can take another look at ties as there is no OT or shootout which is a joke.

Also teach them how to hit without their stick over their head and hands to the face. That will save a bunch of penalties and time.

Yes, an official has the authority to tell a team that he is only going to talk to one of the designated captains or only the head coach. In my coaching days, I had a number of officials tell me and my other coaches that they would only be speaking with the head coach. This was their way to keep the amount of grief they heard from the benches to a minimum. To answer your first question, a ref has NO obligation to explain a call to a player. I've had coaches get on me because "I didn't explain the call to the player". My response back to him was "that is called coaching and that is what you are here to do, I'm just here to call the game". I will always clearly say what the call was, but I'm not going to have a 5 minute conversation rehashing the play and why I made the call. I'll also only discuss calls if the coach is doing it in a respectful way. If they are screaming at me or my partner, I just ignore them and tell them that we will have conversation when they can do it at a "normal volume".

No, I helped ref adult leagues for my local rink like 15 yrs ago.