Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22
On Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, with 15:22 remaining in the third period of a game between the Penguins and Los Angeles Kings, LA forward Jordan Nolan mixed it up with Penguins' center Evgeni Malkin after a stoppage of play. Young linesman Shandor Alfonso interceded to keep the peace. A still-worked up Nolan, pushed the linesman before skating away.
Under no circumstances should a player put his hands on an official in that manner. If the linesman felt it was that bad, he could have dinged Nolan with a game misconduct; he is empowered to do so in that situation. The officiating team opted to let it slide.
Nolan's push wasn't violent or vicious, but was still way over the line of acceptable behavior. I thought a warning letter from the league and a fine (although NHL fines are a joke, as I've discussed previously) were in order in this case.
The Rule Book (Rule 40.1) calls for a game misconduct accompanied by an automatic three-game suspension as a category 3 offense (Rule 40.3) imposed after a report is filed by the officials with the league. The report, however, can recommend that the game misconduct was sufficient punishment in terms of time missed.
************************************************************************
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.