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We have all become accustomed to stories about players battling the odds to come back from serious injuries or illnesses. It is far less common for people to ever hear about officials making a successful comeback. My own return to refereeing after being diagnosed with stage three colon cancer is one that most folks know about but a lot of other stories go unnoticed.

That's a shame, because each of these stories can be inspirational in some way. One never knows who is going through something similar and could use the pick-me-up when they are at a low ebb where the fight seems impossible to win.

With that in mind, in today's blog, I would like to call attention to the NHL return tonight of veteran linesman Vaughan Rody after undergoing spinal surgery a little over a year ago. Vaughan is a 15-year veteran of the NHL and was one of the really good young linesmen graduating to the NHL during the latter part of my refereeing career.

A year ago, Rody worked for a couple months while experiencing increasingly debilitating pain in his back after a seemingly minor collision during a game. Working through injuries is every bit as much part of officials' mindset as it is for players. Unfortunately, things with Rody got to the point where he was simply physically unable to go out and perform. He was shut down in late January of last season.

Rody underwent spinal surgery and faced a very long and arduous comeback road. Remember, he is a 46-year-old athlete -- don't fool yourself, folks, because modern professional hockey officials are very much athletes and damn good ones at that -- and the odds of making it all the way back from a serious injury like his are pretty daunting.

Rody didn't give up. He kept pressing, kept working. Tonight it pays off, when he works the lines in Vancouver when the Canucks host the Boston Bruins. Vaughan will work in tandem with fellow veteran linesman Greg Devorski along with referees Mike Leggo and Tom Kowal.

There will be no applause tonight when Vaughan Rody steps back out on the ice. It will go unmentioned in all the game reports and probably by television announcers as well. Therefore, I wanted to make sure that folks knew about a courageous journey that has reached its destination.

Vaughan Rody is nearing his 900th NHL game as a linesman. I will be rooting from afar for him to reach the coveted 1,000-game milestone. He has worked playoffs but never a Stanley Cup Final -- I can relate -- but has worked championship games at most every other level plus he has Olympic experience. That is a fine career by any measure, and I am thrilled that the final chapter for this official has yet to be written.

Hopefully, other officials -- and even players -- who are battling through debilitating and career-threatening back and/or spinal problems can draw some inspiration from this accomplishment. Vaughan Rody has shown that such injuries need not be career-ending.

Just remember, though: Vaughan Rody is just a man and, if he can do it, so can you.

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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 is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.

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.

In addition to his blogs for HockeyBuzz every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Stewart writes a hockey column every Wednesday for the Huffington Post.