A couple of hockey thoughts as we head into the high school tournament season and wave good-bye to the college season locally.

First, the bad:

It hasn’t been a good year for the quality of high school hockey or the officiating. In these eyes, the two go hand-in-hand. The better the teams, the better the play, the cleaner the game, the better the on-ice officiating. Most of the time, with some exceptions.

In the last two games yours truly has covered, there were a total of 33 penalties called. Thirty-three.

Something’s wrong. Either the on-ice officials are being a bit over zealous, or the level of play is bad. We think it’s more or less a combination of the two.

You get two good hockey teams, usually the penalties are minimal. But this year it’s really getting out of hand. Sunday night the penalty minutes – 51 – were more than the actual playing time, 45. Outrageous.

The game two nights ago between North-Souhegan and South-Pelham is a rivalry game, big crowd, etc. There were cross-checks, roughing calls, and one player, South-Pelham’s Ryan Arnesen, got a game misconduct late in the third period for grabbing a face mask, his fifth penalty so he was out. He’ll likely have to miss a couple of games to start the baseball season per Nashua’s rules, since the hockey season is over. At one point, earlier in the game, Arnesen got in the box and put his head in his hands. Clear frustration.

South coach Jordan Sarracco wouldn’t comment on the refs after his team was hit with 13 of the 21 calls, but it was clear he wasn’t thrilled. On Saturday, Alvirne-Milford took 10 penalties – none of them really dirty, or for headhunting, etc. – in a 1-0 loss to Merrimack. But Admirals coach Dave Thibeault wasn’t going to hold back after the game, despite his calm demeanor.

“Most of them which I thought weren’t penlaties,” Thibeault said. “It was very one-sided. Some of the most horrible reffing I’ve ever seen. I just have to be blunt and honest.”

Usually when a team is a stride behind in its skating, there are penalties. Usually when a team is behind, knowing it has little or no chance, there are penalties.

We’re no experts. The coaches and the officials have that expertise. But this just isn’t right. A couple of weeks ago, North-Souhegan was facing Winnacunnet and the Warriors were really whacked, taking 10 penalties. At one point the game was delayed nearly 15 minutes while the refs sorted it all out with the scorers. Not a good look. Then after the game Warriors coach Paul Kinnaly, expressed his displeasure in the Conway Arena hallway loud enough for one of the officials, a veteran ref, to hear. A few words were exchanged. Kinally was smart enough, though, not to say anything to this scribe on or even off the record when interviewed postgame.

Attention NHIAA hockey committee, coaches, players, administrators, on-ice officials, etc.:

It simply hasn’t been a good year, and next season, something has to change in the sport of New Hampshire high school hockey in every way. Coaches need to coach better, players need to play better, and the referees need to do their jobs better, too. The sport’s taken one big cross check the last few months.

GREAT JOB, RIVIER WOMEN

Now for the good:

There was something special about the Rivier University women’s hockey team. One can’t forget the efforts of displaced coach Chris Czarnota, who’s program was making progress in its third year.

But, after his dismissal – basically termed a resignation – Rivier could have fallen apart. Not the case. They won five of eight games, losing in OT in the ECHA finals the other night in Worcester, Mass. Rivier finished 12-11-3, their first winning season in program history.

“I loved being a prt of ths team and having the opportunity to lead them over the last month,” Rivier interim coach Noelle Sass, normally the softball coach. “Watching them fight, overcome every obstacle they faced, and rise to every occasion has made me so proud.

“This is an amazing group of 25 young women who never gave up on themselves or each other. A championship run was not something we expected, but something we handled with grace and grit. They gave everything they had until the final whistle.”

It was a year for them to remember for a lot of reasons, but clearly the good ones outweighed the bad when all was said and done. Bravo.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X, formerly twitter, @Telegraph _TomK.

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