By Rob Polipnick

The last month and a half in the state of hockey has been a whirlwind of tragedy, confusion and frustration.  What has happened to a young man in a high school junior varsity game has changed lives forever.  I cannot begin to know what the family or young man is going through, or will have to go through in the future. My stomach drops, and sad thoughts enter my mind every time I think of it. I pray every day, that he will regain all functionality to live a normal life.

With that being said, the transition to what I am about to say is a bit uncomfortable because I mean absolutely no disrespect to Jack Jablonski and his family, but I feel that I need to say something, or I will explode. Since the implementation of changes to time served for three penalties, the game has turned into a complete circus. Why? Because our governing bodies had a knee-jerk reaction to a tragic accident, and tried to implement something midstream and caused nothing but confusion, anger and frustration. They have sent out videos to coaches and players, and have posted the video online for parents to watch.

What good does that do if our officials can’t even figure this out? Supposedly, the game has not changed a bit, so why all of the propaganda about this big change to everyone instead of those who are put in place to enforce it? They obviously did not get the real memo because they cannot even explain what they think they are trying to do. Confusing? You bet. Ruining the game? Yes, without question.

Our governing bodies want to make parents, players and coaches accountable for everything. That is really fine with me if those same governing bodies and on-ice officials become accountable for their inability to enforce what is going on.

I do the book for our high school games, and I have heard two explanations by officials who should not even be doing Mite games. The first was by an official who told one of the coaches that he should be thanking him for making a call now that the new rules are in place. (Sorry ref, THE RULES HAVE NOT CHANGED). The second was an explanation to a coach about a checking from behind penalty.  The official’s response was, “Two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have even called that player for a penalty, but because of the new rules I had to call it”.(Sorry ref,  THE RULES HAVE NOT CHANGED). Who is accountable for this?

I have a son who is a senior in high school and has played hockey since he was five years old. He loves the game so much to the point that he has trained exclusively over the last three summers and falls. He has been to numerous camps with excellent instructors, and has been taught by numerous good coaches.

Now the bomb drops and our governing bodies make some minor adjustments. Now, I will be the first to tell you that these changes should not affect the way the game is played, but somebody should tell the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Hockey to educate themselves and their on ice officials.

Instead, let’s confuse players and coaches who train, work hard, attend camps and listen to their superiors to try to play the game the way it was intended to be played. What you now have done is created a knee-jerk reaction and shown an inability to implement what should have been something very minor. Instead, we have a full blown statewide fire alarm that we can’t shut down. That’s what happens when you give more authority to an official. They will showboat and make the game about themselves so they can be the center of attention.

Let’s tell our players that they should train, get bigger and stronger, shoot pucks, be good leaders, and show the work ethic that makes them great young leaders. They do this all the while as our officials take a one-hour test, buy their whistle and stripes, and they are ready to go, just as long as they pass their background check.

If I sound a little bitter about this, I am. I don’t mean to take this all out on the officials, because I will tell you that I have a great respect for many officials that I have met while coaching youth hockey. The blame does not lie solely with them, but also, like I said earlier, it starts with the inability of our governing bodies to educate properly and carries over to the officials.

Who changes things over halfway into the season? Any concerns should talked about, assessed and changed at the proper time. Let’s throw more confusion into a game that most people find confusing already. How do you promote a game that most people think costs too much money, takes too much time and effort to find ice time, and can’t understand the rules to the game? Heck, let’s just throw more confusion to the people that we are trying to win over.

Again, if I sound frustrated, I am.  Actually it is more frustration and concern for what I perceived as the best high school sport in the WORLD. The last six weeks have changed a great many things. My wife will tell you that I am a hockey fanatic. I will tell you that right now, I couldn’t care less if I ever see another high school hockey game.  In six weeks the game has been destroyed.

Do I sound a little extreme in my assessment? Nope. Leave things as they are right now and things on the ice will get worse instead of better. Frustration levels will grow, cheap hits will increase, testosterone levels will top out and MORE injuries will occur. Those are just the things on the ice. Just wait until you find out what will happen in the stands. I have already seen that.

These are my beliefs, and I know that everybody will not share the same sentiment, but where I may be a bit off, I don’t think I am completely off line.

We have a major problem, and it would have been much better suited to be addressed after the season. I do not completely disagree with the minor adjustments. They are actually very simple. The problem is that the implementation is too subjective and our governing bodies have done a poor job with an issue that they had very good intentions of trying to help. I will give them credit for what are good intentions, but they did not give thought to the subjectivity and the inability to educate the officials of their intent. I know that the officials also have good intentions to protect the players, but it is no secret that we have too many bad apples in the officiating world. Who is accountable?

I sure hope the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Hockey figure this out, and soon. I don’t see that happening, and that scares me, because if past history has any merit, the arrogance of both entities shows an inability to say they made a mistake.

It may be time for me to start following high school basketball and that really makes my stomach hurt. I hope I did not offend anyone, and I hope all of you keep your passion for the sport. For now, mine is on hiatus. It is time to give the game back to the players.