Time to Come Home

Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22

I have spent the last three years of my life traveling Europe during hockey season, watching countless games and video from three different Russian-based leagues, including the KHL, and trying to make the officiating better and supplemental discipline system more systematic.

Now, it's time to come home. I want to be physically present and focus on my responsibilities, interests and goals -- hockeywise, businesswise and personally -- that cannot be done long-distance. Believe me, I am staying busy. A busy man is a happy man.

I enjoyed my time in Europe. As a Hockey guy, I hate politics and I don't push religion or dogma on anyone else. While in Russia, I focused on the task at hand -- hockey and hockey officiating -- and separated all other thoughts and opinions; which are usually based on seeing a bigger picture and the shades of gray that exist in most conflicts.

Whether it was the situation in the Ukraine, the Ruble crashing (which all of us who worked in or for the league felt in the wallet), or the change in management in the KHL, I kept my feelings on those issues -- such as I understand them, and realize there are a variety of factors at work and much I do not know -- to myself. When it came to hockey matters and officiating, though, you better believe I was opinionated. It's why I was hired in the first place. I just hope I helped.

I am bring back a lot of great memories from the last three years. I made many great friends in Russia, and in my travels to Finland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. People are pretty much the same everywhere -- fears, ambitions, hopes, curiosities and foibles -- and hockey is a universal language that transcends national borders or the pattern on a flag.

I was honored to don the stripes and the skates at the Legend's game for the KHL in Bratislava last season. I loved going to The Czech Republic, which took me back to the tour I made in 1972 with a US Prep School team to Switzerland, Italy and the then Czechoslovakia. In the current day Czech Republic, I strongly recommend visiting Karlovy Vary. What a beautiful city! So is Helsinki. I fell in love with Finland during my time there, and I will always fondly remember Teemu Selanne inviting me to join him aboard his boat along with Jere Lehtinen and Esa Tikkanen. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention St. Petersburg and Sochi in Russia and Salzburg in Austria (visit the Red Bull team and the museum at the airport).

Spending time in all of these places was a huge perk of my work overseas, and getting to know the people was even better. In some ways, I feel like the MacIntyre character in "Local Hero": returning home after his time in Ferness, Scotland, sighing as he tacks up pictures and places little mementos that remind him of the people and places that had unexpectedly captured his heart along his journey.

Unlike MacIntyre, who already seemed to be longing to go back, I am every bit as glad to be home as I am grateful for the time I was in Europe. I have much to look forward to.

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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.