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I always find it sort of amusing when folks who've never set foot in a hockey locker room -- or, if they have, never did so back when I was I playing and then refereeing -- that "The Code" among tough guys never existed and that players today are no less (and no more) mindful when it comes to taking liberties.
The Code did exist, folks, and was understood among players and officials as to what was acceptable and what crossed the line. Slowly, though, The Code has gone the way of the dinosaur, the typewriter, the Fuller Brush man and the Horn & Hardart's automat.
Thirty-nine years ago, when I was still playing for the WHA's Cincinnati Stingers, we opened the preseason schedule with a game against Indianapolis Racers. Before the warmups, I was standing near the zamboni pit under the stands, chatting with my former Cincinnati teammate and dear friend, Pat Stapleton.
Whitey, as we called Pat, had a lengthy NHL playing career with Boston and Chicago. He retired as an active player after spending the 1977-78 season with Cincy. Stapleton took the general manager and coaching job with Indianapolis.
During the summer of 1978, I spoke with Pat over the phone. The main reason was to discuss the possibility of him signing me to play for the Racers. I ended up canceling on an opportunity to go to an NHL training camp with the Minnesota North Stars and staying in the WHA with Cincinnati.
At any rate, during our conversation, Whitey told me his club was about to announce the signing of a 17-year-old wunderkind from Brantford, Ontario. Whitey thought I'd make a good enforcer for the Racers, serving in part as the on-ice protector for this kid, Wayne Gretzky. When Stapleton learned I was unavailable, he signed Willie Trognitz for the job.
In these days, a player had to be 20 years old to be picked in the NHL Draft. When the WHA was created, it was the late Colleen Howe -- Gordie's wife -- who first realized that the WHA's bylaws did not restrict clubs from signing teenage players. That was how teenage prodigy Mark Howe, brother Marty and father Gordie all came to sign together with the Houston Aeros, winning a couple of WHA championships on the team coached by Bill Dineen.
In the years that followed, other WHA clubs followed suit by signing underaged talents who were obviously skilled enough to play in the pros. That's how future NHL standouts like Gretzky, Mike Gartner (Cincinnati), Mark Messier (Indianapolis and Cincy), Ken Linseman (Birmingham) and Rick Vaive (Birmingham) came to play in the World Hockey Association before they went to the NHL.
A few weeks after my phone conversation with Stapleton, he saw me and called me over to chat by the zamboni gate before the Stingers - Racers preseason game in Dayton. Calling me by my nickname, Stew Cat, Whitey told me that he wanted to introduce me to someone.
"This is the kid I was telling you about," Whitey said. "Cat, I want you to meet Wayne Gretzky. This guy will someday be one of the best of all-time. Wayne, this is Paul Stewart."
We shook hands.
"Hello, Mr. Stewart," Wayne said. "Nice to meet you, sir."
"Call me Stewy," I said. "Besides, Whitey tells me I might be calling you Mister one of these days!"
Wayne smiled shyly.
I looked at Gretzky. He was about 150 pounds and looked as if a strong gust of wind could blow him clear across the rink. He was 17 years old but could have facially and physically passed for someone in early adolescence.
"So this is your first game in the pros tonight?" I asked.
"Yes, umm, Stewy," he replied, the wheels obviously turning in his head to remember not to call me Mr. Stewart or Sir.
"Well, good luck," I said. "Just do me a favor. Don't be a stickwork guy. I don't like players who give you the stick and then turn and hide behind their teammates. Just play hard and clean, and you'll never have a problem with me out there. I don't go after clean players."
I was hardly alone in practicing The Code. Part of why I disliked the term "goon" is that players in my role didn't exist to assault other teams' skill players. Our role was to protect our own skill players and to defend our teammates in general. As long as the opposing finesse guys used their stick to play the puck and not as a weapon, they had nothing to worry about from the policemen on the other side.
Why do I bring up the Gretzky story here? There was an incident in the American Hockey League the other night that reminded that the Code -- just like that long-ago first encounter with Wayne -- is an extinct relic of a different era.
Bickel received an aggressor penalty -- a category of penalty assessed when a player attacks a defenseless opponent -- among the 40 penalty minutes he was assessed. He also flushed away once and for all whatever "tough guy" credibility he had left in this sport.
It's not shocking, but it is sad. Nowadays we live in an age of "Code Zero", both on and off the ice. The ideas of unwritten rules of respect and professional pride are AWOL.
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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.