"No English": Hockey Refs In The KHL Come Up With Perfect Way To Stop Arguing Calls With Pissed Off Players
Here's a crazy stat for all you boys and girls back home--0% of hockey players have ever thought they did something wrong when they get a penalty called against them.
It doesn't matter what league. It doesn't matter what level. There has never been a hockey player in the history of the game who has received a penalty and thought they ref made a good call. You could two-hand a guy across the teeth, and you'd still be barking at the ref the whole way to the penalty box.
I'm sure that refs everywhere are sick of it. And there's really no way to handle the altercation without escalating the situation. You could choose to ignore the player completely, but then he's going to become even more enraged at the fact that you are ignoring him. Or you could choose to bark back at the player and tell him to "shut the fuck up", to which he'll want to rip your skull off your body.
But refs in the KHL have found a solution. Granted, it only works with North American players who sign over in Russia. But it seems like something that refs everywhere could use in the future.
"No English".
It's perfect. It shuts down the argument immediately. You don't have to ignore the player, but you know there's nowhere left for the argument to go with the language barrier. Now sure, every ref in the NHL speaks perfectly fluent English. But if you need to get a player to shut up immediately so you can get the game back on the tracks, then start firing away in Portuguese or something. Unless we start putting translators in as penalty box attendants, there's nothing the player can do to keep arguing.