Goal judge Booth Appreciation

[tib2d2]

Man I miss the goal judges. Guys sitting in the plexiglass booth, sporting a tie and NHL blazer, sitting stoic and still with one hand over the button ready to light the lamp. On a related note I miss the old style goal lamps, I've just never really like the horizonal bar style lamp or the light that goes around the edge of the glass panel.

I know they'll never bring back the goal judge booths, because it let's them sell more front row tickets, but I loved the quickness that the light would come on after a goal. These days I feel there's a big delay from when the goal crosses the line to when the goal light comes on because the goal judge is up in the rafters now.

I dunno, thought it was a cool element to the game.

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[MadLuke]

Not sure about the never bring them back part.

A movement in sport toward no more replay, human instant and final decision, analog and imperfect could make a come back. A longing for it and the spectacle of it.

 

[Fenway]

Boston never had the cage but the goal judge was finally eliminated in 2020

 

[MeHateHe]

I mostly miss the ones in the old small-town barns. In my rink (now since burned to the ground - RIP) they were suspended about 30 feet above the ice surface. On one end, you had to crawl through a little porthole from the enclosed viewing area and at the other, you had to walk along a rickety catwalk because the back wall of the ice surface was also the back wall of the arena. That nobody ever plunged off the walkways (unsecured 2X12s laid across reasonably well fastened crossbeams and the most basic of 2x4 handrails) is the miracle of the age.