One on One - Tom Wersderfer

By- Kevin M. Neibauer

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with off-field NLL official, Tom Wersderfer. So, let's find out exactly how the stats become stats.


KMN- Tom, tell us exactly what it is that the stat crew does?
TW-"We keep track of all the shots, on and off goal, we keep track of all the loose balls, penalties, goals, assists....there are eight of us up there (the pressbox). "

"Two guys work together, they keep track of who has the ball at all times, and when a goal is scored, they decide who scored it, and decide who woukd get the assist."

KMN- So the offiials do't decide who scored and who assisted?
TW-"No..I used to think that too, we have a guy who works for the NHL that determines the scorer and Harvey Pollock oversees everything. We have a phone up there and we call down to PA announcer to tell him the names sp he can announce it."

KMN- Do you guys determine penalties as well?
TW-"No there are people in the box, they log in the penalty, the time and the player. Then we record them upstairs. They have a seperate sheet on the floor, they record penalties that were wiped out as well. Pointstreak doesn't record the wiped off penalties, just the ones that were actually called. We fax the penalty sheet to the leaguie office after we verify everything."

KMN-Do you run the clock?
TW-"We only keep track of the shots at net, Whether on goal or not. All game clocks, time clocks, 30 second clocks and all that is run by the guys on the floor."

KMN-How did you get started on the crew?
TW-"I got in through Dallas Eliuk. I knew Dallas at the time, he set it up. They treat it as a volunteer position. But, it's like a stepping stone. The guy that did it before me moved on. He is now running the scoreboard.
I enjoy doing it.

KMN-Do you get to travel with the league?
TW-" I get to work with the New York crew, I've done a couple games in Madison Square Garden for the Titans. I did the Wings game in Trenton with the New York crew. Not every city has the same amount of people on the crew. Some cities have a "game caller" and a computer. The game caller clls out the action and its entered on the computer. In Philly, we use computer and paper also. So, some cities only have three people."

KMN-Who is reponsible for your assignments?
TW- "The Home team is responsible for supplying a stat crew. Most of the cities have an NHL team, so, you will see the same people doing the games that you will see at a NHL game. For instance, Harvey Polock not only does the Wings, but, he also works the Flyers and the Sixers and a lot of local college games.

There you have at... alook at one of the people that you rarely see that makes the NLL run.

Tom would like to Thank Dallas Eliuk. I would like to Thnk Tom and the National Lacrosse League for their cooperation.

My next One on One---Chopper


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