Oh well, I'd love to see any of you guys:
1) Skate at a level high enough to do Professional Hockey (ECHL is a minor Professional Hockey league)
2) On top of the skating, have enough judgement to go out in front of thousands of screaming people and idiot players/coaches.
Oh well, what do I know. I'm only an official capable of atleast Junior B (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_hockey) hockey, and in a few years time, move up to Junior A or higher.
/end minor rant as a hockey official that puts up with a lot of idiots that have no clue what they're talking about.
Ummmm, he meant he doesn't have a clue about the sign that person is holding up behind him. But that rant was totally justified, I'm sure you have to deal with lots of people that think the refs in sport are just the unpopular kids that were not good enough to be actual players, the truth hurts after all.
No, we're just the ones that are smart enough to make money, instead of getting a concussion every few weekend. Skill is usually unrelated, in fact most officials are actually better skaters than the players that are playing.