Shell
08-15-2003, 01:57 PM
I thought this was a cute story (though the writer misspelled most of the supahstahs names)
Posted August 15, 2003
Little Falls native enjoying life as an NHL official
By Adam Czech, Staff Writer, Morrison County Register
It was Oct. 7, 2000 and Brian Mach felt like a six-point buck staring into the headlights of an oncoming 18-wheeler.
The Little Falls native was about to skate onto the ice to officiate his first game as an NHL official between the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. His years of training and officiating in the minor leagues were about to pay off.
This was his life-long dream. This was why he went through several officiating camps that were more like boot camp than training sessions. This was why he drove all around the country to officiate in the minor leagues for a measly $80 per game. This was why he spent countless hours memorizing the rule book from cover to cover.
“I was very nervous,” Mach said. “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I was thinking to myself, ‘oh my gosh, what am I doing?’”
His fellow officials didn’t help matters much. Normally, the senior official leads the officiating crew onto the ice. This time, the senior official turned to Mach and told him to lead the way.
Mach skated into the dark arena to the roar of around 20,000 Carolina fans. Then the lights came on and Mach could see those 20,000 roaring fans, most of which would be on him if he so much as looked funny at their home-town Hurricanes.
“Once the lights came on, I thought to myself, ‘oh my gosh, what am I doing?’” Mach said.
Then the puck dropped and the game got underway and it was one of Mach’s fellow officials who wondered what Mach was doing.
There were a couple of plays on Mach’s side that he did not react properly to. With a smile on his face, the official tried to calm Mach’s nerves.
“He told me, ‘Macher, if you want to watch the game, we’ll buy you a ticket and you can sit in the front row,’” Mach said.
The game, as well as Mach’s career, went much smoother from there.
With three seasons and 175 regular season games under his belt, Mach could now be considered a veteran NHL official.
So far, his time in the league has been beyond his expectations.
“It’s everything I expected and a whole lot more,” Mach said. “It’s been a roller coaster ride, but it’s been fun. Not many people can say they enjoy going to work every day.”
And not many people can say they gave Mike Keenan — a NHL coach who has coached in four Stanley Cup Finals, ranks fifth all-time in career regular season games coached and fifth in regular season wins — a bench minor during a game and threatened to have him kicked out.
Keenan made some off-hand remarks and called Mach a few colorful names after the second period of a game. All of Mach’s fellow officials had gone into the official’s locker room for the intermission. They were surprised when Mach told them what he had done.
“They couldn’t believe that I did it,” Mach said.
This was Mike Keenan, one of the most legendary and colorful coaches in the NHL. A referee from Little Falls, Minn. wasn’t supposed to be giving bench minors to people like him.
Keenan apparently didn’t take the penalty or Mach’s threat very seriously. He continued to talk and complain.
“He started saying ‘you big...,’ then I cut him off and told him ‘watch your mouth,’” Mach said. “Right away I was like, ‘I can’t believe I just said that to him.’”
This time, Keenan listened to Mach and didn’t say another word the rest of the game.
“I gained his respect,” Mach said. “He likes to push people’s buttons and see how much he can get away with.”
It’s the respect and professionalism from players and coaches that impresses Mach the most about his time in the NHL.
“They treat you like a person,” he said.
No longer do players and coaches simply disagree with Mach for the sake of disagreeing.
But, of course, there are disagreements. After Mach washed away an off-sides call during a game, resulting in a goal for the team the penalty would have gone against, the opposing coach began screaming and yelling.
“It was early in the period so I had to be out there for like 18 minutes second guessing myself,” Mach said.
Between periods, Mach went to the television truck to check out the replay of his controversial call. The replay showed that Mach’s call was the right one.
“I didn’t want to go out there and rub it back in the coach’s face,” he said. “But then the coach came over to me and told me he looked at the replay, too, and told me that I had made the right call and he was wrong.
“To have a coach come over and say that to you is pretty amazing.”
The NHL has a strict review policy for all officials according to Mach. About 90 percent of the games are supervised either in person or via satellite.
Officials are given three performance grades — an ‘A’ for above average, a ‘C’ for average and an ‘E’ for below average.
“Those marks can be very emotionally disturbing,” Mach said. “They can really ruin your confidence really quick. “They don’t give out many ‘A’s’ in the NHL. They figure that you’re up there because you’re good in the first place and they don’t have to build you up anymore.”
Officials receive e-mails and video clips from the league of calls they missed. They then have to e-mail back explaining why they did what they did.
“It’s humbling,” Mach said. “You have six or eight cameras watching your every night. Every night I have someone watching me when I work. Big brother is always watching.”
Mach has to sometimes watch himself so he doesn’t get star struck, something that can easily happen when sharing the ice with the likes of Mike Madano, Joe Sacic or Peter Forsberg.
“What’s happening now is players are knowing who I am,” he said. Now, Mike Madano might come up to me before a game and be like, ‘Macher, what’s going on?’ It’s things like that which are really fun.”
Mach figures he works about three games a week. For a while, the travel was the worst part about the job.
“I didn’t know my way around the airports very good,” he said. “Now, when things go awry, I know exactly where to go.”
Mach has yet to officiate a playoff game.
“I haven’t got that far, yet,” he said. “Hopefully next year.
For now, Mach will enjoy the time he shares on the ice with the best hockey players in the world.
Posted August 15, 2003
Little Falls native enjoying life as an NHL official
By Adam Czech, Staff Writer, Morrison County Register
It was Oct. 7, 2000 and Brian Mach felt like a six-point buck staring into the headlights of an oncoming 18-wheeler.
The Little Falls native was about to skate onto the ice to officiate his first game as an NHL official between the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. His years of training and officiating in the minor leagues were about to pay off.
This was his life-long dream. This was why he went through several officiating camps that were more like boot camp than training sessions. This was why he drove all around the country to officiate in the minor leagues for a measly $80 per game. This was why he spent countless hours memorizing the rule book from cover to cover.
“I was very nervous,” Mach said. “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I was thinking to myself, ‘oh my gosh, what am I doing?’”
His fellow officials didn’t help matters much. Normally, the senior official leads the officiating crew onto the ice. This time, the senior official turned to Mach and told him to lead the way.
Mach skated into the dark arena to the roar of around 20,000 Carolina fans. Then the lights came on and Mach could see those 20,000 roaring fans, most of which would be on him if he so much as looked funny at their home-town Hurricanes.
“Once the lights came on, I thought to myself, ‘oh my gosh, what am I doing?’” Mach said.
Then the puck dropped and the game got underway and it was one of Mach’s fellow officials who wondered what Mach was doing.
There were a couple of plays on Mach’s side that he did not react properly to. With a smile on his face, the official tried to calm Mach’s nerves.
“He told me, ‘Macher, if you want to watch the game, we’ll buy you a ticket and you can sit in the front row,’” Mach said.
The game, as well as Mach’s career, went much smoother from there.
With three seasons and 175 regular season games under his belt, Mach could now be considered a veteran NHL official.
So far, his time in the league has been beyond his expectations.
“It’s everything I expected and a whole lot more,” Mach said. “It’s been a roller coaster ride, but it’s been fun. Not many people can say they enjoy going to work every day.”
And not many people can say they gave Mike Keenan — a NHL coach who has coached in four Stanley Cup Finals, ranks fifth all-time in career regular season games coached and fifth in regular season wins — a bench minor during a game and threatened to have him kicked out.
Keenan made some off-hand remarks and called Mach a few colorful names after the second period of a game. All of Mach’s fellow officials had gone into the official’s locker room for the intermission. They were surprised when Mach told them what he had done.
“They couldn’t believe that I did it,” Mach said.
This was Mike Keenan, one of the most legendary and colorful coaches in the NHL. A referee from Little Falls, Minn. wasn’t supposed to be giving bench minors to people like him.
Keenan apparently didn’t take the penalty or Mach’s threat very seriously. He continued to talk and complain.
“He started saying ‘you big...,’ then I cut him off and told him ‘watch your mouth,’” Mach said. “Right away I was like, ‘I can’t believe I just said that to him.’”
This time, Keenan listened to Mach and didn’t say another word the rest of the game.
“I gained his respect,” Mach said. “He likes to push people’s buttons and see how much he can get away with.”
It’s the respect and professionalism from players and coaches that impresses Mach the most about his time in the NHL.
“They treat you like a person,” he said.
No longer do players and coaches simply disagree with Mach for the sake of disagreeing.
But, of course, there are disagreements. After Mach washed away an off-sides call during a game, resulting in a goal for the team the penalty would have gone against, the opposing coach began screaming and yelling.
“It was early in the period so I had to be out there for like 18 minutes second guessing myself,” Mach said.
Between periods, Mach went to the television truck to check out the replay of his controversial call. The replay showed that Mach’s call was the right one.
“I didn’t want to go out there and rub it back in the coach’s face,” he said. “But then the coach came over to me and told me he looked at the replay, too, and told me that I had made the right call and he was wrong.
“To have a coach come over and say that to you is pretty amazing.”
The NHL has a strict review policy for all officials according to Mach. About 90 percent of the games are supervised either in person or via satellite.
Officials are given three performance grades — an ‘A’ for above average, a ‘C’ for average and an ‘E’ for below average.
“Those marks can be very emotionally disturbing,” Mach said. “They can really ruin your confidence really quick. “They don’t give out many ‘A’s’ in the NHL. They figure that you’re up there because you’re good in the first place and they don’t have to build you up anymore.”
Officials receive e-mails and video clips from the league of calls they missed. They then have to e-mail back explaining why they did what they did.
“It’s humbling,” Mach said. “You have six or eight cameras watching your every night. Every night I have someone watching me when I work. Big brother is always watching.”
Mach has to sometimes watch himself so he doesn’t get star struck, something that can easily happen when sharing the ice with the likes of Mike Madano, Joe Sacic or Peter Forsberg.
“What’s happening now is players are knowing who I am,” he said. Now, Mike Madano might come up to me before a game and be like, ‘Macher, what’s going on?’ It’s things like that which are really fun.”
Mach figures he works about three games a week. For a while, the travel was the worst part about the job.
“I didn’t know my way around the airports very good,” he said. “Now, when things go awry, I know exactly where to go.”
Mach has yet to officiate a playoff game.
“I haven’t got that far, yet,” he said. “Hopefully next year.
For now, Mach will enjoy the time he shares on the ice with the best hockey players in the world.