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None of my kids came up through the system in this area, but I have coached 15+ years of u18AAA, juniors and college. The few years in Pittsburgh was the only place I saw this as a problem. It’s a local issue with these older refs, not global.. Glad you think of me as a bleacher expert though, didn’t realize your knowledge of the game was superior to mine. You must be correct.

I certainly understand that all refs are human and are going to miss things. The players and coaches mess up every game much more than the officials... however, it irritates me incredibly bad when a ref is not capable of skating to keep up with the play. In a three man system, when they put the bands on the guy with seniority instead of giving it to the young ref who can get up and down the ice. Problem is the refs are too stubborn to realize that they eventually reach a point where they should only be doing lines in higher level games.

Great comment, and it is all about kids being placed on teams at a similar skill level and them having fun, especially at that age. Don't let parent ego get in the way of the process - I know parents that change organizations every single year because for some reason, the group of evaluators got it all wrong when assigning little Johnny to the #3 team instead of the #1 AA team. In cases like this, the kid suffers because they are not developing any long lasting friendships when going from one organization to another every single year. Both of my kids that played PAHL and PIHL hockey played with some of the same kids for years, and my oldest has been out of hockey for years and is still friendly with those kids. We all want the best for our kids, so my advice is to manage your expectations.

It really does depend on the individual player. Not knowing you from Adam I would say you need to try out at North Pittsburgh and make making a travel team your benchmark. Be excited and enjoy the ride when he makes one, regardless of level. Treat him to his favorite dinner out even if it is squirt 6.

So far this year. I saw a kid get away with three punches to an opposing players head. Ref claimed he saw nothing. A net that was off and the ref let it go for a full minute before a team scored on it and a team that scored with 7 players on the ice after pulling their goalie. I get the argument that refs are human, but as parents who spend a ton of money on this sport. We can ask for better officiating. I'm tired of hearing the argument that if I don't like it I should put on the stripes.No, I pay my money for my kid to play this sport, it's not cheap. I want a better product. I want a better experience for my kids. Refs have been worse this year than most. Can't argue that.

Pahl didn't do the refs any favors by implementing the fair play point. All that did was cause them to be scrutinized even more. Refs are indeed human, and do not have the luxury of video replay. Any wrong or questionable calls are put under the spotlight even more because they have the possibility of affecting a teams post season. It's a flawed system that passes the buck so the league doesn't have to be the bad guy and deal with the repeat offenders who actually are the problem.