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Time to Reconcile the Rule Books

October 30, 2019, 3:08 PM ET [1 Comments]
Paul Stewart
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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Today's blog is in memory of Jim Gregory, who passed away today at the age of 83. He will be greatly missed.



Forty years ago in November, my dream of becoming an NHL player came true. Thirty-two years this year, I got my big break as an official when I got the opportunity to referee in the 1987 Canada Cup, including two of the three games in the finals, and then became a full-time NHL referee. I have been asked many times over the years which one was the bigger challenge.

Without question, it was the officiating side. Without men such as John McCauley, John Ashley and Jim Gregory being patient with me and believing in me, I would never have made a second career in our sport.

That brings me to today's topic: reconciling the Rule Book.

As a player, I didn't have to know anything different in the NHL than I did in the World Hockey Association, the American Hockey League or even the North American Hockey League. Sometimes I played as a defenseman. Sometimes I played on a wing. Regardless of where it was or in what league, the nuances of my job were the same. Only the caliber of teammates and opponents was different.

As a referee, apart from learning my craft itself, I also had to be on top of differences in the Rule Books from one league to another. To this day, I can vividly remember sitting with both the IIHF and NHL Rule Books in front of me before the 1987 and 1991 Canada Cup, and highlighting the differences that I needed to be aware of when questions arose.

With many more leagues nowadays, the discrepancies have only become more pronounced.

Most have the trapezoid, but some do not. Some have automatic icing, some use the hybrid icing (not many touch-up icing circuits to be found anymore). Some have subtly different descriptive criteria for certain penalties, such as interference. Replay and review procedures can be different. Rules about helmets vary -- Does the player have to leave the ice immediately? Can the player replace it while on the ice and keep playing? There are some circuits where coincidental minors at 5-on-5 result in two minutes of 4-on-4 play, and others where there's no change in manpower. Most circuits these days mirror the NHL with where the first faceoff is held after a team in penalized (i.e., in the attack zone for the team on the power play), but there are a few where that is not automatic. Some leagues use a three-round shootout. Some have a five-round shootout. A few still have ties.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

As a referee, the one absolute constant is that there is no excuse for not knowing or misapplying a rule. Especially at the lower levels, where officials are often pooled and work games for multiple leagues, it can be challenging to keep discrepancies straight. If one wants to be USA Hockey certified, knowing their Rule sets and the differences from others is vital.

I think back to when we took Rule Book tests in the NHL; the purpose wasn't to trick anyone into wrong answers, it was to make understood what to do in tricky situations. We'd talk those situations over. Sometimes, my fellow officials and I would have lively debates over Rules.

I failed my first test. McCauley then had ME write a Rule Book test, which made me study the entire book inside and out. The way I was taught -- by McCauley, Frank Udvari, John Ashley, mentors such as Dave Newell and others -- was to come back to one central question whenever I got hung up on something.

"Paul, why does this Rule exist? What's its purpose?"

Ninety nine times out of 100, returning to that basic question would lead me to the correct judgment. To advance our game, I strongly believe that we need to decide on one Rule Book across all leagues and hammer out the discrepancies. It would assist in the officiating of the game and, in turn, help the game itself.

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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.
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