A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak to my longtime friend, Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jay Greenberg. As always, it was a wonderful conversation. Jay was severely ill, his voice was weak and he knew that his time was limited but the main thing he wanted to talk about was how my sons were doing, and what was going on in the baseball pennant races and the NHL offseason.

Many other tributes to Jay have poured in since his passing but I wanted to add one of my own. I remember him as a Philadelphia Bulletin reporter at Flyers practices at the Class of 1923 Rink back when I was a student-athlete and rink attendant at the University of Pennsylvania. I remember him as a Philadelphia Daily News, New York Post and Toronto Sun reporter when I was an NHL referee. He was always easy to deal with; a true pro and a very kindly, friendly and funny guy once the tape recorders were turned off.

Back when the NHL used to allow its officials to speak to the press, Jay was one of the reporters with whom I most enjoyed dealing. I always believed that officials shouldn't shirk talking about a pivotal or controversial call, and Jay was always fair in how reported anything. Even when he was critical, it was never personal.

A few years ago, while I was in the process of writing "Ya Wanna Go", I got together for breakfast with Jay Greenberg and Bill Meltzer. Jay reminded me of a couple stories that ended up getting in the book and another that Jay was using in his book with Mark Howe (a preseason game Howie recalled where two guys dropped the gloves and just circled each other endlessly before I told them "You two had better fight each other or you're gonna have to fight me!").

More importantly, we shared some laughs and great conversation. I'm going to miss Jay a lot, as will all of us who knew him and were proud to count him among our friends in the game.

Roughly a year ago, I did a podcast interview with Pete Turner. Bill shared it with Jay shortly before Jay took severely ill with West Nile virus. Jay said he got a kick out of the stories in the interview. I'm reposting it here in honor of Jay's memory.



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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