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One of the many reasons why I dislike the NHL's current off-site video review "Situation Room" system is the increasing over-reliance on video to try to get correct calls. There are times when replay angles are deceptive.

The controversial goal/no goal ruling in Tuesday's Calgary vs. Anaheim playoff game is one such time where an over-reliance on replay can produce potentially deceptive visuals. In this instance, I think the proper ruling was the one that was actually made: no goal because the video was inclusive as to whether Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen's kick save prevented the puck from going all the way over the goal line or if he brought it back from completely over the line.

Now, I'm sure some of you are reading this and shouting at your computer screen, "Whaddya mean, inclusive?! Didn't you see that replay with all the white showing around the puck? That's a goal!"

Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn't. The problem with that one quasi-conclusive view is that the angle is less than ideal. An airborne puck could appear to be entirely over the line from that particular angle without actually being so. Every other angle leaves a doubt as to whether the puck was over the line.

Additionally, this was a "blink of the eye" play if there ever was one. At full, live speed I'm not sure that even a referee with ideal positioning would have been able to determine in the fraction of a second before Andersen kicked away the puck if the puck was over the line. With the NHL coaching its refs to be in less-than-ideal position on plays around the net, the chances of an authoritative call from well off to the side was virtually zero.

Under any circumstances or replay system, this play merited a video review after the call on the ice was made. Again, this was a bang-bang play. It would have been hard to find a look that was conclusive enough to overturn an on-ice ruling, whether it was called no-goal or good-goal.

Unfortunately, when we put ourselves in a situation where the on-ice official is not "allowed" to
get a better look and we over-rely on video to get the "correct" call, there is increased risk of ending up in situations where there is no conclusive decision to made anywhere.



Video and photography are great supplementary tools for on-the-scene officiating but there are NOT an acceptable substitute for it.

As most of you know, in addition to being a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as a Stanley Cup winning coach with Chicago and a referee in four Stanley Cup Final series, my late grandfather Bill Stewart Sr. was a Major League Baseball umpire who worked in four World Series and four All-Star Games.

From Grampy and my dad, I learned a lot of things that I subsequently took into my own officiating career when my playing days were done.

Most famously, my grandfather was the second base umpire in Game One of the 1948 World Series between the eventual champion Cleveland Indians and the Boston Braves. With the game still scoreless in the eighth inning, Indians pitcher Bob Feller attempted to pick off baserunner Phil Masi at second base. It was a close play as Lou Boudreau applied the tag as Masi tried to scramble back to the bag.

My grandfather called Masi safe. Boudreau and the Indians argued the call. Subsequently, batter Tommy Holmes hit a single and Masi scored what proved to be the only run of the game.

After the game, newspaper photographs appeared to show Boudreau tagging Masi before the runner got back to the base. That stirred up the Indians fans even more.

Thing was: the photographic angles were skewed. My grandfather had the best possible angle to see whether or not Boudreau's glove was actually tagging Masi, and the umpire was only a few feet away.

To his dying day in 1964, Bill Stewart Sr. always insisted that he made the right call on the play. One time when I was very young, I asked him about the play and about the photos that appeared to contradict his ruling.

You need to understand something: my grandfather was an extremely honest man. If he was wrong, he admitted it. If he wasn't sure, he said he wasn't sure. Even in the privacy of talking to his young grandson, he insisted he made the right call on the tag play. I believed him then and I still believe him now.

"Photos can lie," he told me. "It can be unintentional or it can be intentional. Maybe the angle just isn't the best one. Maybe the photo was doctored to sell more newspapers. All I know is, I was five feet away and I saw what happened very clearly. No one else had my vantage point."

Since the Indians won the Series, guys like Feller and Boudreau were able to smile about the play years later (even if they continued to insist that the umpire got it wrong). My grandfather and the Indians' two Hall of Fame members made some money together in later years talking about the Series on the banquet circuit, especially around Cleveland.

My grandfather was a wise man in many, many ways. I never forgot what he told me about that long-ago tag play in the Fall Classic. When I later started my own refereeing career, I learned that he knew what he was talking about with cameras not always having the best perspective on a close play.

My grandpa was right, as usual. I found that out as an NHL referee after the introduction of video replay. Under the older in-house replay system, there was better communication than there is now between the officials on the ice and the replay folks about what actually happened on the play.

Let me give you a prime and painful example.

My friend and linesman teammate official Pat Dapuzzo used to say that no one on our staff worked the net as closely as I did. That was a lesson learned after my first game in the NHL when my positioning, while good, could have been better. I would then have seen the puck and NOT disallowed the Bruins winning goal vs Canadiens.

It was a lesson that I took on the ice with me for the rest of my career.

One night at Madison Square Garden, officiating supervisor Matt Pavelich and the Replay Judge phoned down to me after a whistle to tell me I had missed a goal. The puck that had just been shot at the Ranger goal and then bounced crazily out toward center ice, in fact, had hit the twine.

"It's a goal," they said.

I told them that I couldn't agree but to go ahead and look at the video if the saw fit. I asked them, prior to actually stamping the shot a goal, to rewind the tape again, to look and see exactly where I was standing.

They did and said," You are right next to the post with your hand on the crossbar."

I then asked them why they though it was a goal. They responded by saying that the puck was shot with speed and it must have hit underneath the cross bar because it came out dead and took a funny bounce as a puck would, had it hit the twine.

"Did you clearly see the puck go in the net?" I asked.

"No, your arm and hand were in the way."

I did not argue that point but then added, " All that's true, but it didn't hit the net or the pipe."

"How do you know? It must have," they surmised.

"Well, I know because the puck hit my hand and broke my right index finger. It's no goal, trust me!"

The no-goal call on the ice stood. To this day, my crooked finger reminds me of two important lessons. First of all, get to the net! Secondly, don't put your bare hand on the damn crossbar or you are liable to get mangled fingers.

Still think it's easy to be a ref? Then, by all means, grab your skates and give it a try.


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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.