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Recently, a HockeyBuzz reader asked me an interesting question about a situation he'd seen in an early season NHL game: A player was interfered with on a play by a defenseman and, as a direct result of the interference, the interfered-with player's stick came up and clipped the other player. Should this be offsetting penalties or just an interference penalty.

What's being described above is a tough judgment call for an official, and is a good example of where the Rule Book by its strictest definition is not always the right or best call in a situation. In the case of the exact set of circumstances spelled out above, I would say the correct call is one penalty: interference on the defending team. Change the description just a little bit, though, and offsetting minors would be the better call.

Here's the determining factor: Which player generated the energy that created the high stick?
I used this standard on many similar calls.

If it was solely the defending player who created the energy, even though there's an expectation of players being responsible for their own stick, then I believe the correct decision is to not tag the fouled player with a high stick. However, if the high stick was preventable and the other player generated the energy to give it the "Glenn Anderson special" (i.e., felt the contact and his stick came up or swung around in an accidentally-on-purpose fashion), then offsetting calls would be correct.

I don't believe in making "reputation calls" but you also have to be aware of players and their tendencies. One time, I had a situation where Anderson stick swung and made contact that popped Mark Pavelich across the pads. Pavelich complained that Anderson deserved a penalty.

He said, "C'mon, Stewy. You know who that is. He does it all the time."

"Yeah," I said. "But it that case, it wasn't enough to be a penalty."

Pavelich persisted saying, "If you call it, though, you'll...."

I interrupted, "What? Keep control of the game?"

"Yeah," Pavelich said.

"Mark," I replied, "I already have control."

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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 ECAC.

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