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As hockey tough guys go, Boston Bruins' forward Milan Lucic is a fraud. He quite literally pounds his chest and talks the talk but his actions repeatedly suggest otherwise. The things he says and does are beneath the integrity of what being a Bruin used to mean in the old-school hockey days. He has no integrity and no class.

I say he has no integrity because his actions on the ice suggest that he's just an another cowardly opportunist. Let's start with the two spearing incidents in the playoffs; one of which was among the nastiest I've seen in years. Spearing is one of hockey's most despicable and dangerous acts.

Unfortunately, the so-called Department of Player Safety decided that spearing is worth only a fine and that players won't be suspended for it during the playoffs. The precedent was set in the final game of the regular season when Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell speared Carolina's Brett Bellemore. The NHL lacked the, um, fortitude to suspend Hartnell for any playoff games and issued a fine instead.

As a result, the league back itself into a corner and has subsequently issued fines to the spearing offenders in the playoffs or simply not doing anything if the call was not made on the ice. Lucic, however, was the only repeat offender (to date) and skated away from it.

Lucic has a history of doing questionable things on the ice that show a complete lack of respect for fellow players. I think back to the way he gratuitously and mercilessly steamrolled Ryan Miller, trying to take the goaltender's head off. He got a two-minute charging minor on the play but it was basically a kamikaze attack.

As for Lucic's actions during the post-series handshake line, the player once again showed a complete lack of class and respect. Not only did his threats to Dale Weise violate the spirit of what the handshake line -- and the ever-dying Code -- is about, it smacked of being an idle threat.

Over the course of my playing and officiating careers, I had more battles than I can count. Trust me, if I had a score to settle, I did not make idle threats. If we couldn't do it right on the spot, I set a time and place, and we went at it.

As far as shaking hands afterwards goes, there were only two players whom I held a permanent grudge against for doing especially egregious things on the ice: Rick Jodzio and Bobby Schmautz.

Jodzio cross-checked me in the face, getting me for 64 stitches, a broken jaw, eight teeth spit onto the ice and a concussion. And, yes, I stayed in the game although I was in agony and dazed. I got stitched up, rode back on the team bus in frigid temperatures and had the stitches break. I ended up in the hospital and had plastic and oral surgery. Initially, my teeth had been crudely wired back into my gums. The surgeon in Binghamton did his best to fix that and the plastic surgeon worked on my face.

As for Schmautz, the SOB deliberately took a stick to my face and damn near carved out one of my eyes. No, I am not exaggerating.

Neither player showed a drop of remorse for his actions. To this day, if either one was in front of me, I'd go right at him. In fact, one of my regrets is that I once passed up an open chance to pay back Schmautz for what he did to me.

At any rate, the more I see of Milan Lucic, the more I think he's a gutless puke who deserves to get his someday. I'll tell you something else: he's not a player I'd ever want on my team. If I were Lucic's teammate, I'd be furious about the idea of having to defend him and spill my own blood -- that was my role as an enforcer -- because of situations created by his immaturity and lack of regard for his fellow players.

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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.