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Did you ever see the old "Fawlty Towers" TV show? There's an episode where the hotel has an extremely spoiled and obnoxious child among the guests. The child's family is wealthy so ever-perturbed but status-obsessed hotel owner Basil Fawlty tries extra-hard to please these particular guests. That proves impossible with the constantly complaining and mean-spirited kid.
"You'll have to excuse him," the child's mother says at one point. "He's very highly strung."
"Yes, yes. He should be," replies Basil in a pseudo-friendly tone with a big, forced smile.
Over the years, I've recalled that bit of dialogue a time or two when it came to dealing with coaches who always made excuses for players who were a pain in the posterior to the officials. In general -- there were exceptions, like Chico Resch -- some of the most high-maintenance players to deal with as an official were the goaltenders.
With some of these guys, the message to officials was, "Don't talk to me unless I speak first. Blow every play dead ASAP but don't dare blow the whistle if I belatedly put the puck in play. Even the most incidental contact should have been a penalty. Get in great position to see the play but stay as far away from the net as humanly possible except when it benefits me. Oh, and don't even look in my direction if we're losing."
Having been a former player, I understood the pressure on the goalies. As a teammate, you learn which goalies are unapproachable on a game day and which ones are more social or aloof from the guys on a day-to-day basis. My first roommate in hockey was Ken Holland, and there are plenty that I count among my enduring off-ice friendships.
That said, goalies are, well, a breed unto their own.
You know the stereotype about goaltenders being oddballs? I'm not going to confirm or deny that one. All that I will say is that I've been told a few times over the years that I missed my calling and should have been a goaltender instead of position player and referee.
Just kidding. However, one thing that I did learn over the years was that most of the goaltenders I dealt with as a player and an official were very much creatures of habit and routine.
One of the more, um, interesting goalies I dealt with over the years was longtime Calgary Flames and Detroit Red Wings netminder Mike Vernon. He raised being a grouch to an art form, especially in dealing with officials, as if being pleasant might make him lose his edge.
Every game of his that I worked, he'd tell me to F-off when I spoke to him. It was almost comical. Finally, one night, I caught him in reared good mood. He even complimented me on a call at one point and didn't colorfully tell me to get lost even once.
Finally, there was a stoppage of play in the Calgary end of the ice with six ticks left in the third period and the outcome no longer in doubt in a Flames win.
I couldn't resist. I skated by his net and said, " "Hey Mike! Can you believe it? We went the whole game, not one 'F-off!'"
Vernon grabbed the water bottle, looked around and said, "Not so fast, Stewy. It's still early yet!"
I had to smile.
With other goalies, I could joke around with them. Garth Snow and I had a running banter about his ridiculously over-sized shoulder pads. I had known Snowy and his family for years.
Every time I saw Snow, I'd zigzag the conversation back to his shoulder pads in a slightly more elaborate and ridiculous way than the last and he would try to zing me with something. A common theme was that his pads weren't actually pads at all but rather something obtained from the inventory at a lumber yard. His late father, Frank Donald "Don" Snow, had a lumber business.
Another time, I worked a game where Snow's teammate, Ron Hextall, was in goal. It was the preseason but Hexy was already in midseason form. When he thought my back was turned as play start to swing the other way-- this was before we had the two-ref system -- he gave a guy a two-hander. I called a slashing penalty.
Ron didn't deny slashing the guy. Instead, he protested by saying, "C'mon, Stewy! I've swatted flies harder than that and haven't killed them,'' Hextall said.
"Well, then, maybe that wasn't my best call," I said.
Hextall was satisfied. Later in the game, he reared back with the stick on a guy and felt my eyes on him. Hexy didn't swing. He gently placed his stick back on the ice and the Whaler player skated peacefully away.
At the next stoppage, I winked at Hextall. He grinned back at me.
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A 2018 inductee into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, 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. Visit Paul's official websites, YaWannaGo.com and Officiating by Stewart
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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