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How's That Embellishment Crackdown Coming Along?

December 8, 2015, 5:30 PM ET [10 Comments]
Paul Stewart
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Several people have contacted me today to ask for my opinion about the manufactured "controversy" du jour about an NHL referee (Tim Peel, in this case) dropping a couple of f-bombs caught over a semi-open mike as he called serial diver/embellisher James Neal for embellishment in last night's game between Nashville and Boston.

First of all, it looked to me like there was salesmanship by Neal but it also looked like he'd been grazed by the goaltender's stick. I did not think the R1's positioning was sufficient to see what he needed to see in order to judge how much contact was made and whether it was embellished.

Perhaps the embellishment in this case was not as blatant as some of Neal's other dives, but there's a boy that cried wolf syndrom with this player. This is a player who earned himself three separate diving/embellishment penalties in 2013-14 (which called for a one-game suspension under the rules at that time, but was not invoked) and last year became the first NHL player fined by the NHL under the new "pregressive step fines" diving policy (which operates solely is at NHL Hockey Ops discretion). On the other hand, I do not believe in reputation calls. Ask for help from your officiating teammates or call nothing rather than filling in the blanks if you do not get a good luck at the play.

As for the swearing, I'm not got to be hypocritical here and say I never let some expletives fly on the ice when refereeing, I'll also say that part of the job of the official is to lower the temperature on conflicts and not to throw fuel on the fire. But also keep in mind that officials are human, too, and there aren't a lot of guys out there saying "gosh darn" and "gee whiz." Profanity has always been part of the language of hockey, like it or not.

Should referees swear at or in response to players? No. Does it happen in the real-world game? Yes. Again, what's more important is that an official is not supposed to escalate a conflict. When that happens with frequency, the acceptability factor goes out the window.

Something that the video of the call from last night does NOT show is what events/conversation may have taken place leading up to this play. It is possible there had already been some leeway given and a line was drawn and crossed. Having not been on the ice and not having watched more than portions of the game, I cannot claim knowledge of any underlying factors here.

Now for the big question: How's that NHL embellishment crackdown coming along? Any of those ever-effective fines issues? Any names named, as pledged? Who has gotten letters from the league? Has anyone? If so, I haven't heard about it.

The truth: There is no genuine "embellishment crackdown" in the NHL and there probably never will be.

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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 first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.

Today, Stewart serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) at both the Division 1 and Division 3 levels.

The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains 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.
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