Be the Referee: Hockey Equipment
January 24, 2019
This week, MHSAA assistant director Brent Rice discusses the need to monitor the proper wearing of the ice hockey neck guard.
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment – Required Hockey Equipment - Listen
A number of sports require certain equipment be worn, and be worn unaltered. In ice hockey, one such piece of equipment is the neck guard.
This is something not very well understood. And it’s not just that some players try to either not wear the neck guard or alter it – resulting in a team warning if caught – but that upwards of half of the neck guards on the ice on any given night of high school play are actually altered. Common alterations are putting tape around the guards, removing padding and wearing the donut style way below the collar bone.
Coaches, officials, players, parents and administrators have to treat this risk management issue more seriously than they are now to make the game as safe as it can possibly be.
Past editions
January 17: You Make the Call: 10-Second Clock - Listen
January 10: Tripping in Hockey - Listen
January 3: Sliding in Basketball - Listen
December 27: Stalling in Wrestling - Listen
December 20: Basketball: You Make the Call - Listen
December 13: Basketball Uniform Safety - Listen
December 6: Coaching Box Expansion - Listen
November 29: Video Review, Part 2 - Listen
November 22: Video Review, Part 1 - Listen
November 15: You Make the Call - Sleeper Play - Listen
November 8: 7-Person Football Crews - Listen
November 1: Overtime Differences - Listen
October 25: Trickery & Communication - Listen
October 18: Punts & Missed Field Goals - Listen
October 11: What Officials Don't Do - Listen
October 4: Always 1st-and-Goal - Listen
September 27: Unique Kickoff Option - Listen
September 20: Uncatchable Pass - Listen
September 13: Soccer Rules Change - Listen
September 6: You Make the Call: Face Guarding - Listen
August 30: 40-Second Play Clock - Listen
August 23: Football Rules Changes - Listen
Be the Referee: Golf Cart Path Roll
By
Paige Winne
MHSAA Marketing & Social Media Coordinator
May 13, 2025
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment – Golf Cart Path Roll - Listen
We’re back on the course today for a golf rules question.
You hit your drive up the left side of the fairway on a hole that slopes up towards the green. Your ball bounces a couple of times and then rolls to the left. Unfortunately, the last bounce it takes is onto the cart path and it proceeds to roll down the path, back towards you, about 50 yards.
Are you allowed to place your ball where it last touched before rolling down the cart path?
No.
You are allowed to take relief from the cart path where the ball stopped rolling, but you can’t move your ball up to where it was before rolling down the path. And the relief you take can’t put the ball closer to the hole than where it stopped rolling. An unlucky break on an uphill hole.
Previous 2024-25 Editions
May 6: Illegal Softball Bats - Listen
April 30: Golf Relief - Listen
April 22: Soccer Scoring Area Penalty - Listen
April 15: Fair or Foul? - Listen
April 8: Girls Lacrosse New Stoppage Rule - Listen
April 1: Base Runner Interference - Listen
March 25: Pine Tar Usage - Listen
March 11: Basketball Replay - Listen
March 4: Gymnastics Deduction - Listen
Feb. 25: Competitive Cheer Inversion - Listen
Feb. 18: Ice Hockey Delay of Game - Listen
Feb. 11: Ski Helmets - Listen
Feb. 4: Wrestling In Bounds or Out? - Listen
Jan. 21: Block or Charge? - Listen
Jan. 14: Out of Bounds, In Play - Listen
Jan. 7: Wrestling Scoring - Listen
Dec. 17: Bowling Ball Rules - Listen
Dec. 10: Neck Laceration Protector - Listen
Dec. 3: Basketball Goaltending - Listen
Nov. 26: 11-Player Finals Replay - Listen
Nov. 19: 8-Player vs. 11-Player Football - Listen
Nov. 12: Back Row Setter - Listen
Nov. 5: Football OT - Listen
Oct. 29: Officials Registration - Listen
Oct. 22: Volleyball Serve - Listen
Oct. 15: "You Make the Call" - Soccer Offside - Listen
Oct. 8: Roughing the Passer - Listen
Oct. 1: Abnormal Course Condition - Listen
Sept. 25: Tennis Nets - Listen
Sept. 18: Libero - Listen
Sept. 10: Cross Country Uniforms - Listen
Sept. 3: Soccer Handling - Listen
Aug. 24: Football Holding - Listen