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It has been awhile since I've written a blog on some of the technical points of good officiating. Many times before, however, I have discussed the importance of referees' positioning on plays around the net and the interactions between the R1 (action referee) and R2 (back referee) in making calls on the ice.

Today's blog touches on a related theme: handing play as it swings from end of the ice to the other. One of the things I look at when I observe officiating teams is how they handle transitions. This is every bit as important to good officiating work as puck support on the forecheck or backcheck is to playing winning hockey on the ice. Support your teammates and be mindful of your positioning.

With that in mind, here are a few of my expectations when I observe and review officiating teams. In a nutshell, what I want to see is good positioning and sound judgement. Here are three keys to smoothly handling transitional plays:

1. When the play moves out of the defensive zone the back referee will hustle to reach the blue line to provide support the the front referee.

2. When a player releases a clearing pass up the ice, the back referee will stay focused on the player who released the puck to look for a late or high hit. Remember we need to penalize players who are "head hunting".

3. As the front referee who is skating backwards into the zone, you must focus on the play coming towards you and make sure that the skilled players are no impeded by their opponent. As officials, we should reward the players who skate and demonstrate skill. We should NOT reward players who fail to move their feet or, worse, embellish. We should penalize the players who prevent opponents from demonstrating their skating and puck-moving skills.

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A Class of 2018 inductee to 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. Today, Stewart is the director of hockey officiating for the ECAC. Visit his official website at YaWannaGo.com.

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