Massachusetts, along with Minnesota, can likely be considered the hotbed of youth hockey in the United States. However, youth hockey in the Bay State is also on the front lines of what’s becoming a growing problem in every youth sport. That is, a shortage of referees.

Why Is There A Referee Shortage?

While it had been rumored quietly for years, the problem in Massachusetts and everywhere else in youth hockey broke open last fall, when the president of Massachusetts Hockey released a letter detailing the referee shortage in the state and the reasons behind it. That letter noted Massachusetts Hockey had lost a staggering 900 referees compared to its pre-Covid numbers. And the main reason for the drop seemed to be “the abuse (officials) receive from coaches, parents, and players.”

The MH letter cited several examples of that abuse. That included ”a referee ​needing a police escort​ after an 8U game; a young female referee quitting​​ in the middle of a set of games​ due to parent harassment​; a parent ​coming on the ice trying to get at a referee; and a parent entering​ the scorer’s box to berate a player on the other team for a penalty against her child.” However, just several weeks after its initial letter was posted, Massachusetts Hockey gave significant suspensions to a coach and several parents for threatening and abusive conduct towards officials in two different incidents.

Unfortunately, the youth hockey referees shortage isn’t limited to Massachusetts. No sooner had the initial Massachusetts Hockey letter gone out than youth hockey associations in other states noted their own issues with dwindling referee numbers and incidents of abusive coaches or parents. In Minnesota, the lack of officials has led to canceled games or scheduled games turned into parent-officiated scrimmages. The issue was severe enough in other Minnesota sports as well. So much so that the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission convened a symposium to address the issues across all sports.

Where Does Youth Hockey Go From Here?

Several years ago, a YouTube video of a “crazy Dad” shattering a pane of glass at a youth hockey game went viral, as much for a bystander’s sarcastic remark as for the man’s actions. But what was seen as outlandish behavior back in 2015 seems to have been normalized just seven years later. And whether it’s because of more societal anger, a new level of lowered civility, an aging referee workforce, or simply youth hockey officials joining the “Great Resignation” post-Covid, the referee shortage is getting worse every day.

In addition, as youth hockey goes the way of many other sports, with a greater emphasis on winning at high levels, many expect participation in youth sports to decline. But, with more at stake, bad behavior by parents and coaches is also expected to continue. And when you consider that fewer kids participating in sports means fewer kids becoming officials in their sport, the officiating shortage in youth hockey and other sports could be a long-term problem.

USA Hockey does have a Zero-Tolerance Policy in place to govern player, coach, and spectator behavior. However, as some recent incidents have demonstrated, the penalties imposed for bad behavior toward officials may not be deterrent enough.

Ultimately, the answer to the official shortage in youth hockey might be found in a zero-tolerance policy with teeth, applied on top of USA Hockey’s policy, like the one instituted by Massachusetts Hockey. Their policy now includes a form to report zero-tolerance policy violations by parents and spectators and banning and suspending coaches and parents beyond the punishment dictated by USA Hockey. For now, it appears the only way youth hockey will solve its referee shortage is to establish that type of long-term penalty box for abusive behavior by parents and coaches.