Suspension: PC Hockey-Referee Error

2018-19 Season

February 4, 2019 

Facts:

During the last minute of a January 26, 2019 game against BC, the referee issued a major and game misconduct to PC’s Eli Jarvis (#10). Mr. Jarvis left the ice without incident. He was later suspended for one (1) game as per the ACAC Operating Code and served that suspension on January 30, 2019 vs. CUE.

On February 1, 2019 Hockey Alberta advised the ACAC that the referee had erred during the January 26th game and had given the penalty to the wrong PC player. In fact, it should have been PC’s Trevor Posch (#21) who received the major and game misconduct.

PC asks for a ruling on the issue.

Ruling:

The error by the referee and the delay by Hockey Alberta in communicating that error are unfortunate, as they resulted in Mr. Jarvis serving an undeserved suspension in Mr. Posch’s stead.

According to PC, the hit that led to the major penalty took place in a location that made it difficult for its coach to observe. In addition, the PC players had been strongly warned against having any communication with the referee. As a result, Mr. Jarvis and Mr. Posch did not advise the referee of his error nor did they mention the error to their coach after the game.

Due to a combination of referee error and a lack of communication between members of the PC team, the result is that Mr. Jarvis has served a suspension that he did not deserve and Mr. Posch has not been sanctioned for his actions. While the obvious outcome is to order that Mr. Posch serve his suspension during PC’s next scheduled game, I am aware of the effect on PC as a team in having already been forced to play without Mr. Jarvis on January 30th, a game that PC lost to CUE.

Under the circumstances, I feel that it would be unfair to the PC team as a whole if Mr. Posch is now forced to serve a suspension given that a suspension was already served in error by Mr. Jarvis. Therefore, there will be no further sanctions imposed against Mr. Posch. However, the major and game misconduct from January 26, 2019 will count against Mr. Posch’s season totals and the ACAC Office will update those totals accordingly.

Sincerely,

Bill Hendsbee 
ACAC Commissioner