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Even casual readers of my blogs know that I go to great pains to explain how difficult it is to be a hockey official, and setting forth the keys to doing this tough and thankless job successfully. Being a good official starts from within. You have to love what you do. You have to take pride in your work. You have to strive for constant improvement and welcome constructive feedback.

It should also go without saying that you should keep yourself in good physical condition and hustle at all times on the ice. If you can't do those things, you are cheating the game. You are cheating the players. You don't belong on the ice.

Recently, I watched two lazy, overweight referees "work" my son's game at a multi-sheet arena off the highway near Worcester. There was an icing.

One overweight ref took a warmed puck out of his pocket, nonchalantly threw it down at the next faceoff, and waved to the other overweight ref not to bother to skate all the way down into position. The next game, for a good two minutes, the R2 (referee stationed up high) never moved five feet and leaned on the boards.

As a third-generation official who has dedicated my life to this profession, I was appalled.

Stuff like this is why I am so disgusted with some officiating. As a professional director, supervisor and trainer of officials, I am insistent on my people being in shape, skating to good sight lines and being decisive on calls. If you can't -- or won't -- do those simple things, find something else to do.

If those officials who worked my son's game were my guys, I would have gone down, paid them their fee and fired them right then and there.

Officiating is not an ATM machine. You don't just get to put on your skates, stand around for an hour and then grab $55 bucks or whatever the league pay. You had better respect yourself and the game.

Hey, USA Hockey. Hey. local assignor. Smarten up and hold your people accountable.

Hey, concerned hockey parents. You say you don't like the reffing -- even apart from being an official, as a parent, I didn't like what I saw -- so handle it properly. I went through the process and made my concerns known through the proper channels. It fell on deaf ears but at least I tried.

For a variety of reasons, we have trouble recruiting people to become officials. I know the reasons all too well. But for those who don the striped shirt, you have to uphold your end of the bargain, too.

Have a good weekend, everyone. Enjoy Game Five of the Stanley Cup Finals.

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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.