Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22
My style and personality as a referee never quite meshed with what my bosses at the National Hockey League wanted. I have always been able to relate to the movie Good Morning, Vietnam because the uneasy relationship between Armed Forces Radio Service disc jockey Adrian Cronauer (as played by Robin Williams) and his military superiors was rather similar to my own dealings with my NHL bosses following the June 1989 death of Director of Officiating John McCauley.
Even though I refereed 1,010 games in the NHL before retiring in 2003, I often tell people that John's death spelled the end of my NHL officiating career; at least in terms of its potential upward mobility within the League. John was always in my corner. His successors were not.
When I did something that seemed off-the-wall or counter to the way the NHL wanted me to do it, John would just grin and shake his head: "Stewy being Stewy." Thereafter, I was frequently in conflict with officiating director Bryan Lewis and the League higher-ups who deal with the officiating side of the sport.
A few months before John's death, I was assigned to work three games in the Montreal-Hartford playoff series. Before Game 2 in Montreal, I was feeling mighty good. It was a beautiful spring day on that April 6, and I felt on top of the world.
I dressed up in a handsomely tailored new sport jacket and strolled out of my hotel on Sherbrooke Street, feeling suave and debonair. I headed to Rue Ste. Catherine, where I stopped to watch a street performer do a juggling act and pondered which night spot I would wear my slick duds for dinner with my officiating teammates after the game.
Ah, the glamorous life of a bon viveur. Well, not quite.
Acting in solidarity with every hockey fan, coach, player and League official who told me that I was excrement as both a referee and player, a seagull flew over head and machine gunned me. I got, um, splashed on my head and all over my new jacket.
As I arrived at the Forum, everyone was doubled over with laughter, especially my officiating brethren.
"Well, look on the bright side, Stewy," someone said. "They say it's good luck."
"Yeah," I retorted. "Good luck finding a dry cleaner before game time."
After the game, I showered and left the arena in my decorated suit. The glamorous life, indeed.
In one of the series games, a skirmish broke out on the ice. As he was wont to do, Montreal's Claude Lemieux used the opportunity to deliver cheap shots to a prone opponent as the rolled around on the ice.
During my minor league refereeing days, I had a previous
confrontation with Lemieux where I picked him up and physically dumped him into the penalty box. This time, I yanked the 225 pound Lemieux up off the pile.
Claude wasn't happy with me, but too bad.
As it turned out, NHL President John Ziegler was in attendance. Before the next game I worked in Hartford, Ziegler pulled me aside.
"What you did with Lemieux there, is that, um, normal for a referee to do?" he asked.
"No, not really," I replied, a bit sheepishly. "But it was an unfair situation and I thought I had to make it fair. Referees have to try to make things as fair as possible. I just happen to be physically strong enough to handle it against a big guy like Lemieux."
Ziegler smirked. "Yeah, I saw that."
That was the last the heard of it.
My sport jacket, by the way, was a goner. It went from something out of Johnny Carson's wardrobe to a Flock of Seagulls souvenir. Hey, it was the '80s, after all.
************
Recent Blogs by Paul Stewart
Lion Tamers, Staged Fights and Bissonnette
Gettin' Your Kicks
Hockey in the Great Outdoors
New Years, Broken Whistles and the Ol' Goal-in-the-Pants Trick
From Body by Dunkin' to Body by Smitty
The Red Line, O'Rourke Injury and the Two-Ref System
A Christmas Blog
************
Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the only American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials, while also maintaining a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
Join the Discussion:
»