happygilmore97 Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 (edited) IMG_1174.MOV People wonder why there’s an official shortage not only in Western PA, but across USA Hockey as a whole. Especially after Pennsylvania Ice Hockey Officiating (PIHO) Officiating Director Zachary Roberts can’t even respect his own officials. An absolute disgrace to youth hockey. Over charging organizations for scheduling services to schedule officials, and then abusing the very guys who skate for him. Amateur hockey Christmas tournament and Roberts goes awol on this young official. Throwing sticks and gloves onto the ice like a 2 year old when mommy doesn’t buy him a pack of gum at the grocery store. To the organizations that have contracts with PIHO, take a look at how your officiating director treats people. Don’t renew those contracts. Find someone within the organization to schedule. It will save you mountains of money, and you won’t be associated with this disrespect. To the new officials coming on, do you wanna work for this guy? Absolutely not! Edited December 31, 2022 by happygilmore97 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forbin Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Why exactly is he allowed behind the bench of presumably his child’s team? Doesn’t that seem like a bit of a conflict of interest? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJUSHL Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 (edited) Are you saying that the coach on the bench that tossed the goalie stick onto the ice is in charge of officials in some capacity? Glad the young ref tossed him. What teams are playing here? Edited December 31, 2022 by RJUSHL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygilmore97 Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 2 minutes ago, RJUSHL said: Are you saying that the coach on the bench that tossed the goalie stick onto the ice is in charge of officials in some capacity? And then the young ref (rightly) tried to toss him and he didn’t leave? And then the older ref didn’t back up the younger ref on his decision? This is terrible on multiple levels. What teams are playing here? Correct. Roberts, who is the PIHO Officiating Director, is the coach on the bench. Allegheny Badgers. He tossed the goalie stick and gloves on the ice. He is ‘in charge’ of the officials for most organizations (including the Badgers) in the Pittsbrugh area. And I use the term ‘in charge’ lightly, as I’m sure you can clearly see why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pucks11 Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 I have to give it to the kid reffing though. He kicked him out and stuck to it without trying to hear his lip. On the other hand this is very clearly LOW level hockey being played and 2 kids ran into each other while going after the puck. It was a good no call by the refs too. Over the years of my kids playing the Badgers have easily had some of the most classless coaches around. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyFan6687 Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 I would hope this coach would be subject to disciplinary action from the organization but I won’t hold my breath. In his position, he needs to be held to a higher standard. I would hope there is no retaliation to this ref in the form of not scheduling him for games etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 RE: the hit. At that young age unfortunately this happens quite often. large range of kid sizes and it was an unfortunate hit. RE: The dummy on the bench. Clearly needs to be removed from being coach and being the officiating director. That was horrible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 https://www.pihoref.com/management Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygilmore97 Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 37 minutes ago, Wes said: RE: the hit. At that young age unfortunately this happens quite often. large range of kid sizes and it was an unfortunate hit. RE: The dummy on the bench. Clearly needs to be removed from being coach and being the officiating director. That was horrible. Couldn’t agree more. The kicker here is, Roberts’ company, PIHO, is supposedly focused on development of new officials and helping them out. He did absolutely none of that here. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygilmore97 Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 45 minutes ago, Wes said: https://www.pihoref.com/management Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygilmore97 Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 11 hours ago, Pucks11 said: I have to give it to the kid reffing though. He kicked him out and stuck to it without trying to hear his lip. On the other hand this is very clearly LOW level hockey being played and 2 kids ran into each other while going after the puck. It was a good no call by the refs too. Over the years of my kids playing the Badgers have easily had some of the most classless coaches around. Seems to fit. Roberts and PIHO have become some of the most classless people in officiating. Ripping off amateur hockey organizations with high scheduling fees and using a buddy-buddy scheduling mindset. 100% guaranteed this kid will never skate for him again, if it’s up to Roberts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offsides Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Wow! This type of behavior is unacceptable at any level. The video shows a clear SafeSport violation as well--snatching equipment from a youngster's hand and chucking it on the ice. One would hope that this gets submitted to them as well as the USA Hockey discipline people. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadday4hockey Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 This falls on the MidAm hierarchy and like most things in our District, they will sit idly by as he also gives Jim Weaver who is the District Ref-In-Chief all the games he can skate. It's just your garden variety quit pro quo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Baxter Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 @happygilmore97 Thank you for your original post. I guess we will see what code of integrity that the PAHL/PIHO and Badgers will live by. Unfortunately I don't have much confidence that he will be removed from his positions. 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 (edited) This incident of the coach throwing the stick and gloves reminds me of an incident in 18uAA last year at PIA, where the Preds and Huskies teams got in quite a heated game, culminated by cheap shots by the Preds onto a Huskies player (hit to the head/boarding) which resulted in a shoving match. (Read below) The HC of the Huskies stood up on the bench and was holding a water bottle, and did not do anything other than yell at the officials that they aren't calling the cheap shots. Huskies HC - who was not penalized during the game - gets a hearing with the league (Which I attended as the team manager), and they accused him of improper behavior for "thinking about" throwing a water bottle. Remember - thought police! In the meeting were PAHL staff from Armstrong and Indiana, and those personnel - who either coached and/or had players on competing 18uAA teams - threw the book at our coach and suspended him for 10 games. He didn't throw the bottle!!! We were VERY unhappy that personnel from teams we were in a battle with in the division wouldn't recuse themselves. They didn't and they screwed our team over. I questioned the PAHL personnel during the meeting about their rules and how they can find someone guilty of "naughty thoughts". PAHL= deer in the headlights look to me. Couldn't answer me. So fast forward to this coach throwing a stick and gloves on the ice. If we go on the basis of what happened to the Huskies HC, this coach should at minimum be gone for the year, if not permanent. My guess is he won't be hit hard due to his position with PIHO. Buddy-buddy at it's finest. Edited December 31, 2022 by Wes 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadday4hockey Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Pretty sure PPE uses this PIHO organization as their ref scheduling partner. I wonder how they will react to him littering their rink with sticks and gloves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offsides Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 1 hour ago, Paul Baxter said: @happygilmore97 Thank you for your original post. I guess we will see what code of integrity that the PAHL/PIHO and Badgers will live by. Unfortunately I don't have much confidence that he will be removed from his positions. He will not be removed from his PIHO position, as I believe he owns the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygilmore97 Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 2 hours ago, Offsides said: Wow! This type of behavior is unacceptable at any level. The video shows a clear SafeSport violation as well--snatching equipment from a youngster's hand and chucking it on the ice. One would hope that this gets submitted to them as well as the USA Hockey discipline people. I was trying to figure that out myself! I’m pretty sure it’s a safesport violation as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygilmore97 Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 1 hour ago, sadday4hockey said: Pretty sure PPE uses this PIHO organization as their ref scheduling partner. I wonder how they will react to him littering their rink with sticks and gloves? Correct. Hopefully not for much longer however, especially after seeing this. I have heard word that this video has also been sent to the Allegheny Badgers organization, as Roberts and PIHO schedules for them as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchAAAinWPA Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 (edited) He has been removed from his position by the PIHO. Fyi, Ed Miller does the scheduleing for Badgers, and PIA and Nevin, maybe a couple others. I am not an official, but my child is and this is the email that was sent out to officials just minutes ago. Edited December 31, 2022 by 2muchAAAinWPA 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemesis8679 Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 3 hours ago, sadday4hockey said: This falls on the MidAm hierarchy and like most things in our District, they will sit idly by as he also gives Jim Weaver who is the District Ref-In-Chief all the games he can skate. It's just your garden variety quit pro quo. Submit it to MidAm, where the person in charge will make sure it winds up in the garbage because its the Badgers? I can't think of a bigger garbage organization in PAHL than the Badgers. From top to bottom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemesis8679 Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, Wes said: This incident of the coach throwing the stick and gloves reminds me of an incident in 18uAA last year at PIA, where the Preds and Huskies teams got in quite a heated game, culminated by cheap shots by the Preds onto a Huskies player (hit to the head/boarding) which resulted in a shoving match. (Read below) The HC of the Huskies stood up on the bench and was holding a water bottle, and did not do anything other than yell at the officials that they aren't calling the cheap shots. Huskies HC - who was not penalized during the game - gets a hearing with the league (Which I attended as the team manager), and they accused him of improper behavior for "thinking about" throwing a water bottle. Remember - thought police! In the meeting were PAHL staff from Armstrong and Indiana, and those personnel - who either coached and/or had players on competing 18uAA teams - threw the book at our coach and suspended him for 10 games. He didn't throw the bottle!!! We were VERY unhappy that personnel from teams we were in a battle with in the division wouldn't recuse themselves. They didn't and they screwed our team over. I questioned the PAHL personnel during the meeting about their rules and how they can find someone guilty of "naughty thoughts". PAHL= deer in the headlights look to me. Couldn't answer me. So fast forward to this coach throwing a stick and gloves on the ice. If we go on the basis of what happened to the Huskies HC, this coach should at minimum be gone for the year, if not permanent. My guess is he won't be hit hard due to his position with PIHO. Buddy-buddy at it's finest. That sounds like an absolutely ridiculous situation, and with no penalty called on the coach or an ejection, how do you even have a hearing against him?? Let alone a a 10 games? For what, yelling? Edited December 31, 2022 by nemesis8679 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offsides Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Judging by what has transpired, it still looks like ZERO recognition of the events that led up to this. Seems like some PIHO posturing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2muchAAAinWPA Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 (edited) This site never ceases to amaze me. You have nay sayers claiming nothing will be done, some saying its not enough, one trashing the Badgers org..... some of you amaze me. And more to the point, you show just why "parents" are the biggest problem in youth sports. Im sure this is being looked at by every org he was apart of and there is a system to hand out the right disclipline. He was removed from his position, so PIHO looked at it, which means they sent it to PAHL and the hockey org he is from. Let the system work, speak in facts, and show some patience. Too many of you go into riot mode (pitchforks and torches) and blame anything and everything you can for the actions of one person. Again, parents are the worst. Edited December 31, 2022 by 2muchAAAinWPA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happygilmore97 Posted December 31, 2022 Author Share Posted December 31, 2022 10 minutes ago, 2muchAAAinWPA said: This site never ceases to amaze me. You have nay sayers claiming nothing will be done, some saying its not enough, one trashing the Badgers org..... some of you amaze me. And more to the point, you show just why "parents" are the biggest problem in youth sports. Im sure this is being looked at by every org he was apart of and there is a system to hand out the right disclipline. He was removed from his position, so PIHO looked at it, which means they sent it to PAHL and the hockey org he is from. Let the system work, speak it facts, and show some patience. Too many of you go into riot mode (pitchforks and torches) and blame anything and everything you can for the actions of one person. Again, parents are the worst. While I agree with you here 100%, Roberts, a ‘parent coach’ has been an issue for years. Ask any official, and 98% of them will tell you, within 30 seconds of the games he’s coached, there was constant verbal abuse towards those officials. Just another dad coach who wanted a front row seat to the game. However you are absolutely correct. Things seem to be moving along and it is definitely getting looked at by many! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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