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Thursday, October 17, 2002

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Andy van Hellemond isn't in the business of cheering. Not for any player, team or outcome.

Even so, the whistles, cheers and goal sirens in the Penguins' 3-2 victory against the Atlanta Thrashers last night sounded like a sweet symphony to the NHL's director of officiating from his perch atop Mellon Arena.

"It's great to see what's happening, not just here but all around the league," van Hellemond said, smiling wide. "We're getting rid of the obstruction, and the games are faster, better played and more entertaining. It's not a secret anymore: If you put a stick across somebody or a hand on somebody to slow them down, you're going to get a penalty. Now, the onus is on the players. They're the stars."

It could be argued that van Hellemond is the NHL's No. 1 star so far this season. He is the man responsible for enforcing the league's crackdown on obstruction, and there is mounting evidence to show it is working.

To be sure, there was plenty last night.

The Penguins and Thrashers skated unimpeded all game -- "a lot of north-south" as van Hellemond called it -- and combined for 72 shots, forcing goaltenders Johan Hedberg and Milan Hnilicka to exchange saves like tennis players trading volleys. There also were 14 power plays as a result of 15 penalties whistled by referees Dennis LaRue and Jay Sharrers, including eight for obstruction-type fouls.

Most telling, perhaps, was the way Mario Lemieux played. He seized the open ice to put nine shots on Hnilicka, making numerous dazzling one-on-one plays and notching three assists to boost his league-leading points total to 10.

Van Hellemond acknowledged that a potent, productive Lemieux is a significant indicator of his crackdown's success.

"It is nice to see, because that tells you that players are buying into it," van Hellemond said. "Teams could just as easily hook or hold Mario and take the penalty and leave the game up to the referees, or they could just play the game and try to stop him legally. It is good to see skilled players doing well because this game is about entertainment."

Van Hellemond plans to attend 90 games across North America this season. With each, he meets with referees in person, as he did last night. But he also regularly communicates by e-mail after he and his staff study film of every game at league headquarters in New York.

He said it's a far cry from the NHL in which he was a referee before retiring in 1995.

"I really believe that, with this crackdown, our officials have got support from the top for the first time. When I worked, it was almost like every man for himself. Every official would do things differently than the next."

That remained largely true as recently as last season, and the plummeting standard of officiating was most responsible for the drop in the average number of goals per game to 5.24, a five-decade low. Already this season, that figure has risen to 5.93.

Many players have complained that the main reason for the surge is the increase in power plays -- 13.1 per game -- as a result of referees blowing the whistle for infractions that are so minute they are barely noticeable.

Van Hellemond isn't blinking.

"I think it comes from the discipline a coach has over his players. If a coach tells his players, 'We don't take these kinds of penalties or else you won't play.' We've got a couple of teams out there right now who don't seem to understand that this is here to stay. They're the ones that are going to be the losers."

Neither is he sympathetic to players who can't handle the game's increased speed.

"You definitely have players who need to adjust. At the same time, there are guys who don't have as much speed or who are later in their careers but have adjusted well. A guy like Ken Daneyko in New Jersey, for example, has never been fleet of foot but has learned how to turn his big body in front of people to make them take a wider path. His thinking is that, 'If I can't find a way to lock onto somebody, I've got to find a different way.'"

Many players also have expressed skepticism that this crackdown will last, as previous attempts in 1995 and '98 failed to extend beyond the Christmas break.

Van Hellemond isn't having any of that, either. The instructions he is giving his referees apparently don't have the word "please" in them.

"I told the officials, if they don't like working here, then don't call the penalties. I also told them that we have a league called the American Hockey League, and they can learn how to do it down there if they can't do it at this level."