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It is hardly anything new for people in and around hockey to criticize the officiating. Long before I was born and even well before the days when my grandfather was an NHL referee, peopled wonder aloud "why can't they just call penalties strictly by the book?" rather than officials applying a certain level of situational judgment.
The reason: When the rule book is interpreted by only the narrowest and strictest of terms, hockey games become unplayable, unwatchable and downright dull. Trust me, no one wants to see everything that technically violates some part of the rulebook called as a penalty.
Story time: In the mid-1980s when I was refereeing in the AHL on my way up to the NHL, there was a push to severely crack down on all forms of obstruction (sound familiar?). I had a discussion about it with John McCauley, who told me he was being pressed to tell all of the officials to call the rules "as strictly as possible."
Typically, I refereed by feel, applying the Udvari Rule (it's a penalty if it is something that would genuinely anger you as a player if it went uncalled). In the next game I worked, however, I decided to give the people what they said they wanted. I called everything I saw that could be construed as a penalty under an ultra-strict interpretation of the rule book.
The final tally from the offsite preseason game: a combined 40 penalties.
Needless to say, both teams hated it, because the players couldn't play the game. The coaches hated it. The fans especially hated it. The newspaper guys on deadline hated it. The league hated it, too. I got a phone call from AHL vice president Gordie Anziano. The conversation began the same way that many of my dialogues went with Gordie.
"Jesus H. Christ, Stewy, what happened out there?" Gordie asked. "On second thought, I probably don't want to know."
"Gordie, I was told to call the game as strictly as possible, so that's what I did," I replied.
"So is this the new Paul Stewart?" he asked.
"No," I said. "Just givin' the people what they want."
"OK, point taken," Anziano said.
I also talked afterwards with McCauley. He was in disbelief when I told him what I had done. But then he couldn't stifle a little chuckle.
"Forty penalties?! Well, I guess I won't be hearing from those guys about a crackdown for the rest of this year," John said.
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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 is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
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.
In addition to his blogs for HockeyBuzz every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Stewart writes a column every Wednesday for the Huffington Post.