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In writing yesterday about Belarus goalie Ivan Kulbakov's late-game gaffe in jumping off the bench to try to prevent an empty net goal by Slovakia -- thus ensuring a goal for the other team whether or not the puck went into the net -- I recalled one of the more humorous incidents from my own playing career.
On that night, I was the guilty party.
I was playing for the AHL's Philadelphia Firebirds in a road game. Kerry Fraser was the referee.
Late in the third period, my team was getting beaten. I was at the end of the bench -- a rather long bench, having not had a shift the entire game. As the game wound down, our goalie, Reggie Lemelin was pulled for an extra attacker.
Wouldn't you know, the shot from our D got blocked and opposing forward Dave Silk (a member of the 1980 gold medal winning "Miracle on Ice" U.S. Olympic team, a fomer BU Terrier and Thayer graduate) headed through neutral ice with his eyes intent on a loose puck and a clear path to an open net and a certain goal.
Frustrated, sort of similar to Kulbakov in Sunday's World Junior Championship game, I left my gloves and stick on the bench, jumped off and skated directly at Silkie raising my arms and screaming like a banshee.
"Don't fire until you see the whites of his eyes," right?
Well, Silkie's eyes were as big as sewer covers as he picked up his head and saw me skating into his path. He looked terrified and promptly pulled up. By that point, I was laughing like crazy as he nearly puddled right there at center ice.
Fraser awarded Dave a goal. Of course, it was the right call. Part of why I got to know the rule book so thoroughly was that I'd broken damn near every one of 'em while I was playing (haha). I even think I might have even helped Dave with his Colonoscopy that night.
Oh, well. It was worth the bus ride and the front row seat on the bench to scare the crap out of Silkie. At least I got good story out of it. You can tease Silkie about it if you see him around somewhere: Groton 1, Thayer 0.
And that's the way it was.
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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.