In a recent BCHL junior game between the Vernon Vipers and Prince George Spruce Kings, linesman Ryan Dawson attempted to break up a fight between Vernon's T.J. Dumonceaux and Prince George's Christian Weidauer. Dawson ended up getting punched and knocked out by Dumonceaux.
In case you didn't read about or see the incident, here is the video:
The fact that Dumonceaux was swinging blindly at Weidauer with his head down and did not mean to hit Dawson does not change the recklessness of his action. It also is not an excuse on Dumonceaux's behalf that Dawson did not properly break up the fight.
If this had happened at the NHL level, the incident would have been handled on the ice and adjudicated by the League according to the protocol under
Rule 40, which covers physical abuse of an official.
I have had people ask me before, "Well, what if it's an accident?" For purposes of rule enforcement, reckless accidents are also folded into the rule. The rule states that it includes "any physical force which a player or goalkeeper knew or
should have known could reasonably be expected to cause injury."
Swinging blindly while the linesman is between you and another guy in a fight is most certainly a situation where anyone -- even someone whose name starts with the letters "D-u-m" -- should show there's a pretty good chance of hitting the wrong person.
During my playing career, physical confrontation with an on-ice official was something I never even thought of doing. It had nothing to do with the fact my grandfather, Bill Stewart, was a longtime NHL referee and Major League Baseball umpire. Even back in the most rough-and-tumble days of 1970s hockey, striking an official intentionally or by a reckless accident was verboten.
That's not to say it never happened. When it did, the incident forever left a stain on the guilty player's career.
* In 1973, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Barry Ashbee got an eight-game suspension without pay and $150 worth of fines for punching referee Bryan Lewis in a game in Boston.
The late Ashbee was someone who was helpful to me as a young player. He taught me the correct way to block shots. Lewis, who later served as the NHL Director of Officiating from 1989 to 2000 (following the death of my close friend and mentor John McCauley), was someone with whom I had a poor relationship.
The fact that I was personally fond of one guy involved in the incident and not fond of the other does not cloud my judgment. What Ashbee did was wrong, and he deserved the punishment he got from the League.
* In a 1981-82 season game, Philadelphia forward Paul Holmgren struck referee Andy van Hellemond with a glancing punch in the chest. He was suspended for five games and given $500 worth of additional fines (back then, fines and getting suspended without pay for a few games were much bigger deterrents to players than they are today. As I wrote in a previous blog, players from my era HATED fines of any kind and tended to watch every penny closely).
* A few months later, during the 1982 playoffs, Boston's Terry O'Reilly slapped van Hellemond. He got suspended for 10 days and a $500 fine. After the season, the NHL tried to codify the punishment for these situations, creating a rule -- which was Rule 67 at the time -- that allowed the presiding referee to cite the rule in his report of the incident to the League. Category I -- the most serious and obviously deliberate offenses-- carried an automatic 20-game suspension to any player who physically abused an official during the game.
* In a 1983 game between Chicago and Hartford, Chicago forward Tom Lysiak deliberately tripped linesman Ron Foyt in retaliation for being tossed out of the faceoff circle several times during the game, including moments before the incident. Lysiak got a 20-game suspension at the recommendation of referee Dave Newell, which the NHL Players' Association tried to have the rule overturned in court for lack of due process (they succeeded in getting a 10-day restraining order before the suspension was implemented).
Aside number one: Have I told you lately how much I detest most lawyers and the general litigious nature of our society? You know what they call 1,000 lawyers aboard the Titanic? A good start. Aside number two: Lysiak, who had a fine NHL playing career apart from this incident, is currently battling bone marrow cancer, and my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family as a Stage 3 colon cancer survivor.
* There was an early 1990s game in Calgary where fights broke out between the Flames and Kings. Calgary center Joel Otto ended up grappling with linesman Ron Finn and, with Finn pinned to the ice under Otto, threw a glancing punch/ forearm. In an utter joke of a ruling, the NHL deemed it a Category III offense -- a three-game suspension -- on the basis that Otto was trying to pull free from Finn to go after a King. Otto claimed he had been distracted by all the commotion around him and it was accidental. Well, you be the judge:
Ah, so now my dear readers, you may be wondering: "All of these incidents were pretty memorable, Stewy, but don't you have any personal stories about an incident like that when you were officiating on the ice?"
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Thanks for asking.
There was one time in the 1990s where I was working a game in Tampa Bay. The Italian Stallion, Enrico Ciccone, got ticked at a ruling by Ron Finn and shot the puck at my linesman's head. I immediately gave him a game misconduct.
Quick little tangent: If you want to read some good books on the life of an official, Finn and Ray Scapinello did good ones from linesmen's perspectives and Kerry Fraser had a good one on his refereeing career. However, I'm a competitor by nature, and you'd better believe I intend to top all those guys with my own autobiography in the works!
Let's get back to Ciccone here. That guy was a real character on the ice; a bit of a meathead, to be honest. He was genuinely puzzled as to why certain things he did were penalties. It was almost endearing at times -- almost being the operative word.
I worked a game in Philly once between Tampa and the Flyers. I nabbed Ciccone three times on roughing penalties along the boards. Each and every time, he said, "I was just finishing my [bleeping] check, Stewy! It was a clean hit!" Each and every time, I told him that the hit itself was clean but "finishing it" by popping the guy in the face with his glove afterward was a roughing penalty.
Anyway, after the incident with Ciccone shooting the puck at Finn, Tampa Bay general Phil Esposito (with whom I go way back) came downstairs after the game to talk it over with me. He was already waiting for me in the runway of that awful ballpark rink of theirs.
I was clutching a puck in my hand at the time. When I saw Espo, I chucked the puck in his direction like a baseball knockdown pitch -- with a lot of velocity but deliberately high and a little wide so it wouldn't bean him. Being no fool, Esposito hit the deck.
"Well, how do YOU like it?" I asked. "Still want to know why I tossed Ciccone?"
Espo got the point. He didn't rat me out to the League office afterward. Nowadays, we laugh about that story.
Oh, and yes, there were several incidents where I was the victim of the abuse. That does not even count a time in the AHL where I met Andre Savard under the stands to settle our differences and Savard landed a good one. It also doesn't count being punched by fans in Winnipeg in the NHL and Moncton in the AHL.
On March 26, 1985, my 30th birthday, I was working a Moncton Golden Flames game. Defenseman Dale "Digger" DeGray deliberately shot a puck at me. I call it my Moncton Birthday Cake (hahaha).
There was also a time in Edmonton where I got punched during a game, and there's a story about a later amicably settled feud I had with Craig MacTavish. Finally, there was an incident in a 1998-99 season Tampa Bay Lightning game where Tampa forward Chris Gratton -- one of my least favorite players to deal with during my career -- spit on me.
Those are pretty long stories, so I'll save them for future blogs. I will tell the Gratton story in a blog about player-referee relationships and dealing with problematic players.
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Recent Blogs by Paul Stewart
Pat Burns, Anti-Homerism, and the Hall of Fame
A Debt of Gratitude to the Fog
Officiating Teams and Two-Man Ref System
Unsafe at Any Speed: Hockey Equipment and Concussions
Defending Teammates, the Code and the Human Rulebook
Emery and the Aggressor Rule (Rule 46.2)
Hockey Fights Cancer: My Story
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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 only American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is a judicial 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, while also maintaining 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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