Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22

This is question I get from time to time and is of particular interest to fans when it arises in the playoffs: What is an official's responsibility when there is a broken stick laying on the ice with play ongoing? Should he remove a potentially hazardous obstacle? Should he leave the stick lay, at least until the puck leaves the zone?

Officials have some discretion here, but the biggest directive is to avoid doing something that can affect the ongoing play. The hockey version of the Hippocratic Oath of "Primum non nocere" ("first do no harm") is the prime directive. I learned this the hard way that the Hockey Hippocratic Oath can very easily be twisted in the Hypocrite Oath where it's very easy to second-guess whenever action or inaction has the opposite effect of what's intended.

Late one season, I worked a game at the Montreal Forum between the Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers. In the third period, a Flyers player dropped his stick on the ice halfway up the boards. I thought it had broken.

As play exited the zone, the discarded stick was right near my feet. In one motion, I instinctively scooped it up and skated up the ice. My intention was to remove it from the playing surface as I followed the play. I hadn't gone two full strides when, suddenly, the player who dropped the stick grabbed it out of my hands and kept playing. I realized right then that the stick had not been broken.

Oops! At least the rest of the sequence passed by uneventfully. The play, lucky, was not affected.

After the game, I retired to the officials' dressing room and showered. When I emerged from the shower, I was told I had a phone call.

It was Bryan Lewis, the NHL's Director of Officiating.

"Why did you pick up that stick?" he demanded.

"Geez, how did you find out about that already? Who told you?" I asked.

"Some media guys in Montreal called me immediately," Lewis said.

Of course they did. Such is hockey in Canada, especially in Montreal or Toronto.

"It was accidental," I said. "I thought..."

"I don't care what you thought," Lewis snapped. "You gave Philadelphia an advantage."

"Look, it was instinctive," I said. "Haven't you ever just picked up some object that's laying at your feet? When you were refereeing, didn't instinct ever just take over for a split second?"

From that point onward, I set a rule of thumb: If the stick was clearly broken, I would pick it up if play moved out of the zone and the stick was still laying in the zone. Otherwise, I would not touch the stick.

In the meantime, the dropping of sticks -- or the shooting or throwing of sticks -- creates many different possible scenarios of legality and illegality within the NHL Rule Book.

One time, Terry Gregson worked a game in Boston. One player shot a stick at an opposing player, knocking the puck away from him in the process. Gregson erroneously called an interference penalty. It should have been a penalty shot.

We discussed it briefly afterwards. I said it should have been a penalty shot. Gregson stood by his original call.

Well, I was right and Gregson was wrong.

The rules for this situation are covered in the NHL Rule Book under what it currently Rule 53.

The call Gregson made was based on the set of circumstances spelled out under what is now Rule 53.2:

When the player discards the broken portion of a stick or some other object by tossing it or shooting it to the side of the ice (and not over the boards) in such a way as will not interfere with play or opposing player, no penalty will be imposed for so doing. When moving a stick that is not broken, no penalty shall be assessed as long as it does not interfere with the play and the player who lost said stick is not attempting to retrieve it, otherwise an interference penalty must be assessed.

That was NOT what happened on the play, however. What happened is exactly the set of conditions spelled out under what's now Rule 53.6:

When any member of the defending team ... throws or shoots any part of a stick or any other object or piece of equipment at the puck or puck carrier in his defending zone, the Referee or Linesman shall allow the play to be completed and if a goal is not scored, a penalty shot shall be awarded to the non-offending team.

Another permutation: One time, I refereed a game in San Jose between the Sharks and Maple Leafs. San Jose goaltender Arturs Irbe unwisely wandered out of his net and tried to stickhandle with the puck, promptly losing it to the dangerous Mats Sundin in the corner. Hopelessly caught out of position, Irbe threw his stick at the puck.

I called a penalty shot. No one, including those on the San Jose bench, could dispute that call.

What happened next, however, was something a bit unusual. On the ensuing penalty shot, Sundin started to move in deliberately and then quickly accelerated. As a matter of fact, he made such a quick move that I couldn't react in time. He skated right into me in the lower circle, knocking me down. Somehow, the Hall of Fame forward still found a way to beat Irbe.

Only thing was, I didn't see the puck go in. I waved no goal. Simultaneously, veteran linesman Swede Knox pointed at the net, to signify a good goal. Now we had to go to replay to confirm the goal.

Afterwards, I skated over to Irbe with a friendly word of advice.

"Arturs, you are the worst stickhandler I have ever seen in my life," I said. "Do both of us a favor. Don't do that again and you'll save us both a lot of trouble!"

Still another time, I was involved in a play where a goaltender broke his stick and a teammate retrieved a new goalie stick from the bench for him. That was perfectly legal.

However, as the skater was carrying the two sticks, he ended up playing the puck. Now it was an automatic penalty.

On more than one occasion, I have seen another yet another tricky situation pop up: Two players jostled with each other and both dropped their sticks. One breaks. The players each end up grabbing for the closest stick and had a tug of war over it. The NHL Rule Book says that this should be a holding the stick penalty although there is some wiggle room for the official.

A final example of these "stick-y" rule nuances: There was one time I worked a Calgary Flames versus Vancouver Canucks game. Al MacInnis had the puck. A Vancouver player broke his stick and swung it around at MacInnis, trying to knock the puck away. Deftly, MacInnis sidestepped the Vancouver player and unleased a shot. The puck pinged off the crossbar and went into the stands.

I called a penalty shot. Vancouver went ballistic. However, it was the right call. First of all, a goal was not scored on the play (see the aforementioned Rule 53.6). Technically, MacInnis did not even get a shot on goal on the play, because an attempted shot that hits the crossbar is not recorded as a shot on goal.

Calgary chose Robert Reichel to take the penalty shot. Under the rule of that time in this specific situation, the non-offending team could pick any player on the ice to take the penalty shot (under the current rule, the penalty shot shooter must be the player who was fouled on the original play so long as the official identifies a specifically affected player).

Reichel scored. Now, I was even more popular in Vancouver! Oh well, it was the right call.

*********

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 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.