Paul Stewart: Safety First: Foligno Accident Was Preventable

I feel like having 4 officials on the ice is too many. I'm surprised players don't run into them more often.

Combined with Stewy's knowledge, his candor is what makes this one of my favorite blogs to read. The fact that Stewy is not afraid to point out that one of his former colleagues made a mistake speaks to Stewy's objectivity. I can foresee this video clip used in officiating seminars for years to come. It's one thing to absorb procedures from a manual or from someone instructing. Seeing the visual of what can happen when things go wrong really hammers home the point.

TRUST YOUR PARTNER!

It usually boils down to that. Being a smaller sized liney (I'm only 165 pounds and 5'11) trusting my partner is what has kept me mostly unscathed minus a nasty cut on my finger that was a freak accident.

It's one of those things you learn the higher up you go the more trust you need it. I was wondering if you were going to write about this and you didn't disappoint!

Glass is higher than it used to be. Linesmen used to grab the glass and pull themselves up on top of the dasher to get out of the way.

Didn't the NHL experiment with positioning an official(s) off the ice at the development camp a few years ago, in order to reduce the amount of bodies on the ice surface.

Any chance that the linesman could have jumped on to the bench, rather than sitting on the boards?

Since I was reffing novice hockey, I was taught never to leave the ice like that, and always wondered why linesmen in the NHL do it very regularly. Just switch with your partner rather than have your skate blades dangling in the air and being a sitting duck along the boards.