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When players on the ice do not support one another and communicate on the ice, the whole team inevitably looks bad no matter how much individual talent may be on the roster. The same thing is true about officiating teams.

There has been criticism in recent days about what went on when no penalty was called on the controversial hit from behind on the Boston Bruins' Adam McQuaid by the Washington Capitals' Zach Sill. I cannot take issue with the criticism in this case; it was merited.

I will not justify the non-call but I suspect I know what happened. The closest referee was not able to sufficiently see what happened and, although at least one other official must have clearly seen the play unfold -- the puck was right there -- no one else was willing to speak up after no initial call was made.

When that happens and no one speaks up, the entire officiating team looks bad. It's the duty of the linesmen -- who are empowered to call major penalties or report minors if they are not seen by the referee -- to speak up just as it's the duty of the referee to admit when he didn't get a good look at a play and to ask for help. That is what genuine teamwork should be; sticking your neck out to get the right call, being truthful with your partners and having the courage of your convictions to do what is right.

A famous Taoist saying, which i learned in my Asian history studies at Penn, goes: "To take no action is an action." The saying has been applied to countless contexts over the years and it can be adapted just as readily to hockey.

In this case, the play had a direct bearing on the game and it needed to be called corrrectly. To make no call was a call, and it was the wrong one. The fact that Sill was subsequently suspended two games -- a ruling I agree with -- by the NHL does not change what actually happened.

Next time around when a play like this happens, and it inevitably will, I'd hope to witness better teamwork among the official to do the right thing by working together to get the correct call. That is the only thing that should matters. It's not about never being willing to say you missed what happened, or about covering one's own backside or about not wanting to step on a fellow officials' toes. It's about getting the right call.

Many times in my own officiating career, I was bailed out by the fine linesmen with whom I worked. Sometimes, I'd see something and disagree with a fellow official's interpretation. Yes, it sometimes got heated back in the dressing room afterwards. But in the end it was all about honesty and trust. If I didn't see it, I had faith in my partners. If we had to put the call together piecemeal, we communicated on that, too.

In the end, if we got the correct call that was what mattered. If the pieces didn't fit together and we did wind up with the right call, it was our duty to own up to it, critique ourselves and make sure the same mistake didn't happen again.

There's only two possible end results: 1) a correct call or non-call, 2) an incorrect call or non-call. That's why we wear black-and-white shirts. There's a lot of shades of gray in the Rule Book and its interpretation but the final decisionis starkly black or white. It's just the nature of the job.


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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 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.