Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22
Famed United States Army field commander Omar Bradley once wrote that is the common dogface soldiers who deserve recognition for their toil and bravery on the battlefield. I have always viewed hockey in a similar fashion.
What I love about hockey and the teams that I watched growing up or playing against was how the ordinary guys contributed to help their teams win.
I think of Don Awrey, Dallas Smith, Gary Doak and Rick Smith on the Bruins blueline, the likes of Orest Kindrachuk, Joe and Jimmy Watson, Bob Kelly and Terry Crisp on the Stanley Cup winning Flyers, and of Lorimer, Lewis, Lane and Langevin on the Islanders' Cup-winning clubs. Players like Glen Wesley, Ian Laperriere and Sean O'Donnell. These are were heart and soul types who took pride in each and every game.
The graveyards are full with people who had "potential and talent" and squandered it. Talent doesn't impress me in an of itself. It is desire, guts, work ethic, dedication to self-improvement and to finding a role on the team. This is what sets apart the guys who achieve longevity in this game from the more gifted ones who fade away.
I may not have been much of a hockey player in the skill department, but I made it to the NHL and WHA while many more talented players that I played with and against did not. I started on the worst team in the lowly North American Hockey League and worked my way up the professional ladder to the top leagues.
Likewise, I may not have been much of a referee -- if you believe my critics and some of my former bosses -- but I still managed to last long enough to referee 1,010 games in the NHL. Nearly 11 years after my retirement as an active referee, I am still involved in this game for a living through my work with the ECAC and the KHL.
If you find a niche in this game for that long, you have to be doing something right. For the same reason, you can go up and down the list of players who made to 1,000-plus games in the NHL and each and every one of them did it because they had that passion, work ethic and dedication to the game and their teammates. A great example is my HockeyBuzz colleague Brad Marsh.
Listen, 1,000 games is a great milestone in any facet of this sport but it's by no means a line of demarcation. Sometimes simply making it to the NHL is an achievement worth applauding.
I have a lot of respect for someone like the recently retired Jody Shelley, who was a player after my own heart. He started out in the ECHL and was an undrafted player. Through his hard work, sacrifice and willingness to fight for his team, he made a 627-game NHL career for himself. There are bushels of retired "skill players" who never made it to the NHL and would now have gladly traded their natural gifts to play one game in the NHL, let alone more than 600 of them.
To change the subject slightly, I am so angry at college coaches and recruiters who upset the apple cart giving letters of intent to 14- and 15-year-old kids who haven't even sprouted peachfuzz on their faces yet. I get even angrier at parents that puff up their kids and they become the entitled Prima Donnas that make the game into a caste system.
Coaches and scouts drool for those slick stars. They love their polo ponies. Me? I'm a fan of the work horses who pull the wagon. In hockey and life, it takes all kinds of horses to win.
Want the "secret" I told my boys? This is the "secret" that worked for me in my varied positions for 28 years on the ice as a pro: If you can SKATE, you will have a spot to play or ref.
Work on shooting in the driveway, learn to juggle, jump rope and do fast feet exercises. Do pushups and then more pushups -- wide arms, narrow arms, finger tips, hands pointed in and hands pointed out.
My guys are 16 and 12....I'll let you know in three years with the 16-year-old if he has the right stuff to be a pro. He's got the heart and the work ethic. He's made huge progress in putting on muscular weight because he's serious about diet and exercise. He has that drive.
My 12-year-old is more laid back. He needs to take it from third gear to fifth on the ice and in his preparations. He'll surprise himself because he's got more talent than he knows or shows. I'm going to let their coaches coach them and I will watch.
Keep skating, boys. Keep skating and love what you're doing. That's the secret.
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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.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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