vels. Certainly there is always room for improvement. To put things in perspective, I had the good fortune to work the first round from the TSN studio with Paul Maurice, who coached in the KHL

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Mr. Fraser, I read somewhere that NHL referees have their own Playoffs, in which the best from first round are selected to work on second round and so on. How the NHL chooses who will get playoff time? Thanks for your answer,Patrick Arseneau, Sherbrooke Patrick, The NHL officiating department, under the direction of former referee and colleague Terry Gregson, conducts an internal evaluation and rating system throughout the regular season and Stanley Cup playoffs. Terrys supervisory staff attend games during the season and provide computer-generated reports on each officials performance. His staff includes former NHL officials such as Bill McCreary, Don Koharski, Mick McGeough, Rob Shick and Kevin Collins, who supervise NHL games. Areas of skating, positioning, penalty selection, communication and comportment, game control, team work and face-offs (linesmen) are graded. General comments would be included on the bottom of the form as to how the official performed throughout the game and if anything of consequence was observed, positive and/or negative. The hockey operations department (situation room staff in Toronto) under the direction of Colin Campbell and Mike Murphy, records calls or non-calls that also flag an officials performance. Footage of documented plays is assembled for Gregson to review the following day. Prior to the end of the regular season, a numerical ranking from top to bottom is assigned to each referee and linesman to determine playoff selection. An officiating manager/supervisor is assigned to each playoff series from either the officiating department or hockey operations (Kris King, Kay Whitmore) while Gregson floats from series to series. The series supervisor conducts game-day meetings with the officiating crew and acts as a liaison for team management and any concerns they might feel they need to express. The game-day meeting should not only provide the officials with an update on the previous games but to maintain a level of consistency in the way the games are called throughout the series, right through and including Game 7, if necessary. Part of the supervisors duties include evaluating the performance of each official that works in his series. At the conclusion of each round, the deck is shuffled once again and the higher-rated officials move on. The officials are advised in a group e-mail as to whether they made the cut. If the referee or linesmans name appears in the e-mail list, then he knows he made the next round and assignments will be forthcoming. No name on the list means you can begin planning your vacation immediately. Once an officials season is over, he is given the opportunity for an exit meeting or year-end review. In some cases, a face-to-face meeting isnt optional. Referees and linesmen are paired at the beginning of each playoff round. The first five games are assigned in each series utilizing this pairing system. If a sixth or seventh game is required, the pairings might be split up to utilize the higher ranked officials, depending upon how many series go the distance and how individual officials performed throughout the round. In deciding games (and particularly Game 7s), I often found that players recognized the importance for them to remain disciplined and not take a bad penalty. That only worked if they knew, or at least thought, that the referee didnt leave his whistle in the dressing room and would call infractions that were committed! I couldnt buy into the statement, "Let em play" because what it really means is "Let em cheat!" If, and when, players take liberties and violate the rules they must be penalized for their actions, whether it is in Game 1 or Game 7 of a series. An official can get on a good playoff run similar to a team that advances with a combination of good work and some luck. It is very unlikely, however that an official would jump two categories from their final regular season ranking in the playoffs. There is much at stake aside from the pride of being selected to continue to work in the playoffs. Officials are paid a bonus for every round of the playoffs they are selected to work. Referees make $18,000 per round while linesmen receive $12,000. Any rating system can be subjective in nature and to say politics dont play a part would be misstating the facts. Players, coaches, general managers and fans certainly get upset with the officials for what they deem to be poor performance levels. Certainly there is always room for improvement. To put things in perspective, I had the good fortune to work the first round from the TSN studio with Paul Maurice, who coached in the KHL last season and GM Craig Button, who is no stranger to international competition and scouting. Both of them echoed my belief that the NHL officials are the best in the world at what they do! These two gentlemen have a much broader sense of appreciation for the officials, having seen and been subjected to the alternatives. Nate Hairston Jersey . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. 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Tiger Woods golf game might not be ready for prime time, but his sense of humor remains in midseason form.As a guest on the episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that aired Thursday, the 14-time major winner dropped several one-liners and discussed a wide range of topics.Woods said that, at the Ryder Cup earlier this month, he jokingly implied that American golfer Jordan Spieth was still in diapers when Woods won his first Masters in 1997 by a record 12 shots. (Spieth, for the record, was nearly 4 years old that April.)When talking about what he did while he has been away from the game because of back surgeries, Woods joked that he played the video game Call of Duty for eight hours a day with a 30-minute lunch break. When he started to losing to 7-year-olds around the world, that proved humbling.Woods, who is 40, recalled a story about when he was in college at Stanford, he had a steak dinner with Arnold Palmer and Arnie picked up the tab. 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