You might not know Gene Binda, but your hockey lifestyle no doubt is better off because of his efforts.
A native of South Boston, Mass., Binda is in his 16th year as the Atlantic Hockey Association supervisor of officials. His responsibilities include assigning officials, continuing education for league officials, acting as a liaison between coaches, officials and the league, and serving as a mentor to current and prospective Atlantic Hockey officials.
A former referee for the ECAC at the Division 2 and 3 level starting in 1988 and linesman for Hockey East, Binda, with his son, Eugene Jr., owns and operates Referee’s Crease, which handles assigning and development for officials from the Mite level to Junior A.
New England Hockey Journal caught up with Binda recently to discuss the state of the officiating game.
New England Hockey Journal: How did you develop your affection for officiating?
Gene Binda: Actually, it was by chance. I was playing in the South Boston Youth Hockey League back in 1974 and on Saturday mornings, there was nobody at the rink to referee any of the games. I was a rink rat, so one of the board of directors asked me if I’d hop out there and start at least helping with the Squirts and Mites. I started that, and next thing I knew, I was doing it more than playing hockey. I really got a feel for the game, and I really liked what I was doing.
At the time, there wasn’t really a lot of hockey opportunities on the officiating side. So the one thing that worked out for me is that I was in a position where I was right down the street from the rink, and as I took as many games as I did, I got better. Then once I got out of high school, they were looking for people to start working JV games. I ended up getting hooked up with the right people and doing a lot of town hockey, eventually getting into a position where I am now, assigning and actually coaching kids to get better. It really started on a fluke, me being in South Boston and they couldn’t get anybody to referee. Similar to what’s going on today.
NEHJ: What did you like most about officiating at that time?
Binda: The camaraderie. There was a unique bond between everybody in the hockey community at the time. Everything was smaller — it wasn’t as big as it was today. Everything was smaller, so you built relationships. You could make a mistake on the ice and they didn’t crucify you for it because back then, they trusted that 99 percent of the time you were going to get it right. The one time you didn’t get it right, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Of course if it was a game-winner, then you were going to get some heat. For the most part, just the bonding in the hockey community was a lot different than it was today. That’s why I enjoyed it as much as I did.
NEHJ: Have there been one or two officials who have influenced your career more than others?
Binda: Terry Partridge worked with my father at the (Boston) Globe and knew I refereed. He was looking for some guys to work down in Hingham and he couldn’t get anybody. He really took a liking to me. I showed up on time, did all the right things. From a mentor aspect of things, I don’t think there was anybody better out there than Terry Partridge, helping not just myself but kids in that time frame get better. I think that’s why we had a lot of good officials coming out of the South Shore, because Terry was wiling to not only spend time with us on and off the ice, but he gave us opportunities to grow.
NEHJ: How did that morph into assigning games, where you are now a major assigner of games in the New England area?
Binda: Back then, they didn’t have a referee-in-chief or anybody to assign games. What they used to do, the local program was responsible for assigning officials. I worked nights at the Globe, so I had plenty of opportunity during the day to make calls, get people where they want. The benefit was that I got to pick the games that fit my schedule. It was a bonus for me to do that. As the pool that I had started to grow, more and more people were coming to me asking if I could get their officials.
NEHJ: What are your biggest challenges as an assigner now?
Binda: Getting the right people in the right games, and increasing the pool. The pool is diminishing at record pace. It’s getting to the point where it’s really scary.
I think we have to take a look at training from a different perspective. I think training has to be easy to get into, make it so the kid wants to come in and learn, then follow it up with a lot of secondary training. The biggest problem we’re going to have right now is we’re putting people in games that really don’t belong there. That’s not fair to them, it’s not fair to the teams. What I mean by that is we want kids to be good, quicker, and they better be damn good doing it. If not, there’s going to be a price to pay from a coach, a parent, a player.
NEHJ: How many officials do you assign on a regular basis?
Binda: From a game count, we’re up to about 28,000 hockey games that comes through my office. I have approximately 2,000 people working for me. The challenge that I have is making sure that those games work around people’s lives, work schedules and working with other commissioners. I have to deal with working with Hockey East, the ECAC, Division 2 and 3 supervisors.
It gets more complex because the less I have control over the assignments, the more I have to work with other people. That gets complex, too, because I can’t say to my guys that I want to advance you to Division 1 college hockey, Division 3 college hockey, and then I don’t have a spot for you and then criticize you for working somewhere else. That just doesn’t work, so I have to figure out a way to make sure that I’m working well with other commissioners at higher levels. That’s a pretty big challenge.
NEHJ: Is there a trait that you have found that is common in good officials?
Binda: Commitment to what they’re doing, enthusiasm for what they’re doing and not taking themselves seriously. We’re out there to do a job. Go out, have some fun. It’s going to be a little tense sometimes. You’ve got to be able to handle the pressure. The real trait that needs to be focused on is communication and teamwork, and enjoy what you are doing.
NEHJ: What common mistakes do new officials make?
Binda: We’re all going to make mistakes because of sightlines. The biggest thing for a new kid coming in, you’ve got to be able to skate, and you’ve got to understand positioning sightlines. Our sightlines change by the second, and I don’t think people understand how much they do change, but good officials get into the zone, by the goal line, and they’re focused on that 30 to 40 feet, cross the net and cross parallel to where the faceoff dots are.
If you can get good sightlines and position yourself for those management skills, that’s the first thing. Secondly, we all learn from mistakes. Grow from it. I don’t penalize a kid for missing a call. We try to coach them. Things will get better as you get better sightlines. You can’t make a call if you are not in position. That’s the main thing that I tell them.
NEHJ: How often are you dealing with coaches, parents, managers, et cetera, who are unhappy?
Binda: I would say, I handle, on a Monday, about 60 or 70 calls, or video, or some sort of interaction with coaches or management. At Atlantic Hockey, we review everything on Mondays. We could be there four, five hours, looking at videotape and trying to get back to the coaches, to let them know, “Hey, we saw what happened. We understand, we’re trying to make it better.”
It’s overwhelming because of the lens they look through. Everybody looks at the game differently. Sometimes, that lens gets clouded, let’s put it that way. Sometimes it’s just about venting — people just want to be heard. They’re mad at somebody and I just happen to be the guy they can call because they don’t have the official’s number, so I’m the guy who takes the brunt of it.
For the most part, it’s cordial. There’s not really a lot of hostility. I deal with a couple of guys here or there, but for the most part, the coaches and the people that I deal with are pretty rational after they blow off some steam.
NEHJ: How often do you have to deal with a young official who has had a difficult experience at a game because of parental behavior?
Binda: That’s an ongoing subject. We’ve had situations this year where parents have actually had to come down to the rink and pick their (officiating) kids up, and I get the phone call saying, “My kid’s not coming back, this is unacceptable.” We lose that kid, and there’s no coming back.
Things are different than when I grew up. I was a street kid and had a little different attitude toward stuff, but these kids are really subject to much more abuse than I ever was, and I think the parents think it’s OK, and it’s not. If I did have one word to say about parents, “What would you do if that was your kid coming off the ice? How would you treat them?” Because a lot of these kids are between 15 and 18 years old and have never experienced someone coming at them like that. It’s really appalling.
NEHJ: What changes would you like to see in the way that we train young, new officials?
Binda: They need constant reinforcement. When you get a new kid, he doesn’t know where his line in the sand is yet, so he’s always trying to figure out, “Well, the coach is mad at this, so I changed the way I officiated the game.” Well, that’s not what we want you to do. We want you to have an opinion, figure out where the line is, and if we can get video, we’ll coach you through the video.
I think there has to be secondary training across all leagues. I don’t think there are a lot of leagues out there that are willing to do the training because officials, once they get better, they tend to leave. So from a national standpoint, maybe a couple of governing bodies should be more involved in secondary training so we get the message out.
But I know locally, and the people who work for me, we put game films out almost weekly to reinforce what we’re asking them to do. That’s what we need to do — we need more coaching and people to get involved in helping these kids understand that’s it’s OK to make a mistake in a youth game. Learn from it, and hopefully next time it doesn’t happen.
Secondary training is a big issue with me, and, I’m not patting myself on the back, but we’re at the forefront of this. I think it has to be mandated somewhere, but I don’t know if that will ever happen.
NEHJ: Do you have a pet peeve when it comes to watching an official that drives you crazy?
Binda: When they go out there and you can tell they don’t care where they’re at. If you don’t want to be out there, don’t take the game. Don’t think you are above the game.
I have seen officials who have worked at a higher level one night then you come back and see them the next night and you’re going, “Where’s the energy? Why can’t you have that same energy that you had in last night’s game? What, because it was a little bit higher level? You come down and you think you’re above it, the hockey’s not that good?”
I fully get it from the coaches. I deal with it at the junior level, at the youth level, where the perception is this guy doesn’t want to be on the ice, and I can see it the minute I come in. Give them a good solid game and a good effort.
NEHJ: Do you worry that referees, even at young ages, are doing too many games in a day?
Binda: Yes. I’m worried about their safety more than anything. We’re putting a lot of pressure on people to get those games filled. I’m just as guilty of that, putting pressure on people to get that extra game. It’s not really beneficial. I fear for player safety, when guys get tired, and the officials’ safety. That’s a very valid point. I think we’re working way too many games, just to appease assigners, and I’m as guilty as anybody on that.
NEHJ: You’ve had so many officials who have had great success coming through your guidance, your business, your tutelage, including your son. Can you name a few guys who have really been success stories as officials?
Binda: Chris Rooney (South Boston, Mass.) would be one. Chris started with me when he was 11 years old. Pretty amazing journey that he’s had. I’ve had some real good kids who have come up through the years — Brendan Blanchard, Terry Murphy — a lot of great kids who have come through the program and have been successful.
There’s nothing more rewarding for me to make the call and let them know that, a), they’ve advanced to Division 1, or b), they’ve advanced to the playoffs and the NCAA tournaments. ... (NHL linesman) Ryan Daisy (Mansfield, Mass.) is one of the best. He’s a great kid, a joy to work with and 100 percent committed to what we’re doing. In the summertime he takes time out of his day to come back and work with the newer kids. He’s a great kid to work with and his attitude is above and beyond what you expect of a kid who is working in the National Hockey League.
NEHJ: Could you tell at a young age that Chris Rooney had what it takes to make it far?
Binda: We knew he had skill sets. We pushed him very hard as a kid. He was working some very, very big hockey games at the time, especially in the Eastern Junior Hockey League. He was working the final by the time he was 17 years old — unheard of at that time. The main thing with him was his skill set, his willingness to listen and, for him, it was time for him to go out to the USHL. That was the driving force, and he was fortunate that the NHL at that time was going to a four-man system and he was in the right pace at the right time. But he had a lot of good skill sets at 17. It wasn’t just myself who helped him along the way. Marty McDonough from Southie, Jimmy Doyle from Melrose, Johnny Gravallese from Hockey East — there were a lot of people that he took a lot of good things from that molded him into the official that he is today.
NEHJ: There was an incident in the FPHL that put a couple of officials in a very bad position (after a controversial goal call, a ref was shoved and chased by a team owner as he left the ice) and you decided to resign your position with that league. Is this something that you had experienced before and how hard of it a decision was it?
Binda: (Safety issues for officials) became problematic. (The league) didn’t want to address it. The main thing was “How are we going to finish the game?” My comment to them was, “You have a lot more to worry about than finishing the game, because I’m not going to put my officials in any league through something like that without the league backing it up." They kind of turned their heads on it and that was the beginning of the end for me.
I did like working with those guys, but it was getting to a point where the safety of the officiating crew needed to be addressed, and it wasn’t. ... I really care about the people who work for me. Especially the guys who move through the system with me, the guys who are committed, I have a great respect for them, their safety, whether they’re driving to the game and it’s snowing out, or something happens in their life and it changes. That’s the way I’m built.
NEHJ: How may officials do you think that you’ve lost?
Binda: Me, personally, people walking away, in the last three years, I’d say over 500, easily. Those are experienced guys. I’m not even talking about the entrance-point kids. We know half of those are going to wash out their first year. I’m talking about guys who have been with me for years and just said, “I’ve had enough. I can go stock shelves for 15 bucks an hour rather than come here.” That’s what their attitude is now. “I’m not going to get yelled at, at work.” That’s the sad part about it.
NEHJ: What do you see as the future of USA Hockey officiating and where it’s headed?
Binda: I think the USA district supervisors are trying to make some big, positive changes. At the meetings in January there was a lot of positive talk. Jimmy Doyle from the Atlantic District has done a tremendous job, Mike Chaffee from New York, Kevin Donovan here in Massachusetts, Barry Zalcman, the Connecticut district supervisor — they’ve done a tremendous job trying to rechannel some different ways to make USA Hockey more a driving force in bringing numbers up educationally. They’re trying to do the right thing, but to me, it’s a three- to four-year process. I don’t think anything’s going to change overnight. We need to get the message out that we’re going to back the officials, we care about their safety, we care about their advancement, and when that happens, we might be able to stem the tide and bring more people in.
