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While most people around hockey were glued to the happenings around the NHL trade deadline on Wednesday, I was having a day I will never forget. Prior to heading to the Prudential Center in Newark -- a very impressive and cavernous facility -- to referee the Team NHL vs. Russian Gazprom Export charity benefit Legends game, I spent the day in Manhattan with my sons McCauley and Maxwell.
It was a long ride to and from Boston but Max, McCauley and I made the most of it. We went to Cosby's and bought some great Olympic gear, got our ashes for the start of Lent, went to the top of the Empire State Building, went to the NHL store, had lunch at Pasta Lovers and then headed to Newark for the game at the Rock. We played the game, had some laughs and raised some dough-ray-me for worthy causes.
While I was in New York, walking down 7th Ave. with my boys, I ran into an old friend of mine: New York Rangers great Nick Fotiu. Big Nick and I were briefly teammates and roommates with the Rangers during training camp in 1976.
In 1976, I was invited to the Rangers training camp and attempted (unsuccessfully) to make the NHL team. Knowing that my only real shot at cracking the club was in an enforcer role, I had to find out more about my competition.
I asked who was the toughest player at the camp. I was told it was Fotiu, another aspiring NHL rookie at the camp. Nick was not totally unknown to me, although we had not yet crossed paths on the ice.
The Staten Island native had taken a somewhat similar path to mine to even achieve NHL consideration. Like me, Fotiu started out in the lowly NAHL and worked his way up to the WHA and, later the NHL. Nick still briefly played for the Cape Codders in 1975-76, when the team folded mid-season and was coached at the start of the season by Larry Kish (who was my first pro hockey coach with the NAHL's Binghamton Dusters later that same same season).
Also like me, Fotiu had trained in other fighting forms in an era where few hockey tough guys had fighting experience outside of the ice and perhaps some schoolyard or barroom scraps. Nick had been the Police Athletic League boxing champion and could really handle himself. He had good balance and was a huge player for that era at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds. When he connected with a punch or body check, it hurt.
Wanting to find out a bit more about Nick firsthand, I asked the Rangers if I could room with him at training camp. They said yes.
When I met Nick for the first time, I came up and introduced myself as his roommate. We shook hands. Then I challenged him to fight right then and there in the hotel room. Later, we had two bouts on the ice.
I am man enough to admit this: Nick Evlampios Fotiu thumped me, and he did it fair and square. The second fight was fairly close but he took me apart in the others. I gained some respect from him by standing toe-to-toe with him and not giving up but mostly I was on the receiving end of punishment.
Apart from being a tough-as-nails fighter (before long, there weren't many guys in the NHL who wanted any part of fighting him), Fotiu also made himself into a good checking role player. That's why he went on to play 646 games in the NHL.
There was never any personal animosity between Fotiu and myself. We became friends. At the camp, we were both hungry to prove ourselves and earn an NHL spot with the Rangers. He got the gig and he went on to prove that he deserved it. That's how it goes in hockey.
It was nice to see Nick the other day.
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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.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography.